Just Might Save Your Life
by Stratusfied247
Summary: AU - An explosion at a warehouse on the docks starts it, and when the zombie numbers start to grow exponentially, there are 2 choices - Fight or flight. But some have come up with a 3rd choice. Why choose one, when you can do both.
1. Chapter 1

**_Warnings: Gore, character death, zombies_**

**_Author's Notes: This is an AU of General Hospital that doesn't really follow any current or previous storylines. The accident that turned Jason Q into Jason Morgan never happened. The world of the AU will be revealed as the story progresses. The AJ that I'm writing is the AJ played by Sean Kanan. Stefan is still alive. Carly is pretty much a non-entity. She will probably appear in the story, but she doesn't have any real connections with Jason other than passing. The main core of characters will be Jason, Sam, AJ, Emily, Nikolas, Alexis, and Stefan, so it's a mostly Quartermaine and Cassadine story.  
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Jason Quartermaine stared in the mirror, turned his head from side to side. A day later, the haircut was growing on him. The shorter hair was easier to work with in the morning, and it didn't hang into his face while he was trying to work. It had been a spur of the moment thing, a decision that came after seeing his mother. Monica had tried to push the hair out of his face, and he had jerked back from her. The hair was the last thing to tell her that her favored son was gone, that she wasn't going to have one without the other.

Over a year had passed since he moved out of the Quartermaine mansion, declaring that if one son was gone, then the other one was gone, too, and still, it was hard for his parents to get it. He didn't believe that the best way to help AJ was to cut him off, to put him out there alone. In the year that Jason and AJ had been gone, AJ had already started to get better. Without the family around…

So maybe leaving the Quartermaines really was what AJ needed, but to cut him off completely? All they had to do was lay off. All they had to do was have some faith in him, give him a reason to be proud of himself, to believe in himself. AJ worked harder away from them than he ever had when they were breathing down his neck, almost daring him to screw up so they could prove themselves right. Being away from the family was good for AJ, but the way it had happened was horrible.

Jason ran a hand over his short-cropped blond hair. It was childish, really. To be honest, he hadn't minded the hair so much. He did it to spite Monica. Moments after the cut was finished, he felt bad about it, but now, looking at it in the morning, it wasn't so bad. He should have cut it a long time ago. The short hair just made life easier.

The bed moved behind him and Jason stepped to the side, giving himself a better view of the bed in the reflection of the glass. Sam McCall rolled onto her side, and for a moment, Jason thought she was going to push up. Her left hand was planted against the mattress, and it looked like her arm was starting to straighten. Instead of getting up, Sam let her arm slide out to the side until her fingers hung off the end of the mattress. Her hair, so dark brown that it almost looked black, spilled across her face. She didn't bother moving it out of the way.

Sam was a rebellion, or at least she had started that way. When they first started to cross paths, Jason clearly remembered the remarks made about her by his grandfather. Obviously, she wasn't a person on the up and up if she was involved with the Cassadines. Then, she was definitely someone to stay away from when they found she was a Cassadine. Despite all the things that had happened because of Cassadines, Jason had always been sure that his family's dislike of them, especially his grandfather's, was because they couldn't stop Emily from entrenching herself within that family.

Emily was the reason that Jason had done more than pass Sam in the streets or at Kelly's. Emily was Sam's friend, and though she and Emily weren't attached at the hip, she was often around when Jason went to see Emily. Through his adopted sister, Jason learned a lot more about the woman that lay naked in his bed. He learned that she could take care of herself, but that sometimes, she liked to step back and let someone else take the fight. He learned that she had a good heart, even though she sometimes didn't go about things the best and nicest of ways. He learned that she was easy to care about, and that she didn't judge him or his brother based on the things people may say around town.

Jason left the mirror and moved to kneel beside the bed. He needed to get dressed and ready for work. He couldn't show up for his paramedic shift with nothing but a towel around his waist. Knowing that, though, he still took the time to push the hair back from Sam's face. He took the time to drift his fingers over her shoulder, and then across her cheek. Sam's eyelids fluttered, but she didn't wake up. Jason leaned over and kissed her cheek. He let his lips linger, and when he pulled back, her eyes were open, or at least, they were mostly open. He knew she would go back to sleep once he was gone. Sam was a late sleeper.

"Hey," Sam said. She licked her lips and blinked a couple of times. "Morning already?" Jason nodded and Sam gave a soft laugh. "You're not dressed yet."

"I will be."

"Be careful," she told him. "I'm learning that Port Charles isn't the safest place in the world."

Jason laughed. That was a bit of an understatement. For such a small town, they seemed to have their fair share of problems. Between the mob, the random killer that showed up from time to time, and the inability of Port Charles denizens to stay out of trouble, there was usually plenty for a paramedic to do. Jason's job as a paramedic was another rebellion against his parents. They just knew he was going to be a doctor, that he was going to follow in their footsteps. Slowly, but surely, the years had shown him that he didn't want to be like his parents. He still enjoyed medicine, though, and he wanted to help people, so he made a compromise between spiting them and making himself happy. He became a paramedic.

"I'll be careful," he told her. Jason kissed her again, this time a quick one on the lips, then pushed up to his feet. "Go back to sleep."

"I planned on it," she said with a grin. Sam rolled onto her back, then onto her side. As she moved, Jason caught glimpses of flesh that excited him more than they should. He'd seen, touched, and kissed every part of her body at one point or another, but still, a glimpse of her shoulder, the curve of her breasts, the spanse of her back… They all aroused him.

As Sam pulled the covers up over her shoulder, Jason turned away. She was on her way back to sleep, but Jason had enough experience with Sam to know that, should he climb back in the bed, naked and ready for her, she would put sleep off for at least a little while longer. Jason was tempted to get in, more tempted than he'd been with any other woman, and so he turned and put on his clothes.

Jason dressed quickly, and left the bedroom even quicker. He walked down the short hall and down the stairs swiftly, his socks making the slightest of noise across the carpet. When he got downstairs, AJ was already there, his arms over the back of the sofa, his head tossed back, eyes closed. AJ said, "Getting a late start, huh?"

"Looks like I'm not the only one." Jason tried to keep any form of accusation out of his voice. AJ hadn't had a drink in months, but his posture was a little too similar to what it was like when he had a hangover. He had learned that trusting AJ was the best way to make sure he stayed on the wagon, but every once in a while, Jason found himself wondering.

"Don't worry," AJ said, lifting his head. "I didn't go on a bender."

Jason felt bad, and almost apologized. The first few months of living together, when they had moved out of the mansion and into the apartment in Harberview Towers, Jason had apologized a lot. He had expected AJ to eat it up, but instead, he just told him it was fine, that he understood, that it was more important that he was there, putting faith in him when he could. Jason had stopped apologizing so much, but he still felt the urge to do so every now and again.

"Sam's still asleep," Jason said, turning the conversation away from AJ's non-bender and Jason's need to apologize.

"She got her key?" Jason nodded and AJ gave one in return. "Then we're good, because I'll be gone by the time she gets up. I was just taking a breather." AJ pushed himself up and stretched. His suit was only slightly wrinkled. A quick tug on his jacket, an adjustment of his tie, and he looked fine.

He faced Jason and they stared at each other, eye-to-eye. For Jason, that had to be one of the best things about the last year he'd spent with AJ. Before, especially when he was drinking, AJ wouldn't look him in the eye. AJ would look down or to the side, anything not to go head on with his brother. Now, he and AJ stood toe-to-toe, eye-to-eye, and it felt good. It felt real. This was the brother he had when AJ was sober, the one he wanted all the time. This AJ was his best friend.

Jason nodded, then went to the door and pulled on his heavy black boots. He looked up at AJ and nodded again. "Tonight?"

AJ shrugged. "Maybe," he said. "If the day goes well. It should."

"Cool," Jason said. "See you tonight."

A wave from AJ, a return from Jason, and then he was out the door. The door closed behind him and Jason paused. Something… He didn't know. There was some feeling, a shiver that went up his spine. He shook it off. He tried to shake it off. The further he was from his apartment, though, the more that feeling was there. By the time he was outside, it was almost like he could smell it on the wind. Something was wrong, or something was going to go wrong. A voice in the back of his mind told him to go back upstairs, lock himself in. Going out there today was going to be nothing but trouble.

He probably should have listened. He should have gone back upstairs, called in sick, and climbed back into bed with Sam. He also should have kept AJ from leaving, and made calls to others, telling them today was a bad day to go out. Jason didn't claim to be psychic or anything close to it. He was just intuitive, and he knew his surroundings. The hallway had been eerily quiet, giving him a sense of unease. The elevator had moved slowly, giving Jason more time to think about that bad feeling. And outside, there was something in the air, a chill on the wind and a scent that just wasn't right. All of that together added up to a day to stay inside.

Jason didn't go back to his apartment, though. He was a responsible person, and there were lives out there that needed to be saved, people who needed his help. So, he ignored the good sense that told him to go back inside and headed for work. He climbed on his motorcycle, another rebellion against his parents, and headed off to General Hospital. He really, really should have just gone back inside.


	2. Chapter 2

Sam slapped the bedside table until her hand landed on her phone. She jerked the phone back, slapping it against her head. "It's kind of early for this not to be an emergency."

"It is very much an emergency, Samantha. I am waiting downstairs. I expect to see you in no more than ten minutes."

Well, there was no arguing with that. Sam sat up and looked around the room. It was too early in the morning for whatever her uncle wanted. She wished she could say that, if he was bothering her, it had to be an emergency. Unfortuantely, most people's definition of an emergency differed from that of Stefan Cassadine. If it bothered him, then it was an emergency, no matter how small the reality of it may have been.

Sam groaned, but she got up. The only thing worse than going down to see what was up would have been if she made him come up and get her. She wasn't afraid of him or anything. She didn't feel like he would hurt her. Stefan just had a way about him. He had perfected the parental look of disappointment, and though he was only her uncle, she still felt like a bad child whenever he turned that look her way. She would have been more ashamed of the fact had Nikolas not been the same way. Her cousin was the head of the family and even he turned sheepish and his cheeks filled with shame when Stefan turned that look on him.

Sometimes, Sam wished she had stayed away. She wasn't used to a family, especially not one as bizarre as the Cassadines. Sam was used to being on her own, having no one that cared enough to meddle in her life. The Cassadines seemed to thrive on meddling, as though it was their duty as family to know everything everyone else was doing, and it was their right to have their say about it. Stefan Cassadine had always been a good client, but when he stuck his nose in her business or tried to tell her how to live and behave, she wished that she had hit the bricks when the truth came out.

Most of the time, though, Sam was glad to have a family. She was glad to have a mother that actually cared about her, who told her that she was a good person instead of someone who constantly berated her and told her she would amount to nothing. She liked spending time with her little sister, Kristina, and she liked her little cousin, Spencer. Nikolas had proven to be a rock, someone she could depend on when something was going wrong, when she felt like she had no way out. And Stefan… He could be a pain in the ass, but she knew that if someone hurt her, there would be hell to pay, and he would be leading the charge of vengeance.

Sam pulled on her clothes as quickly as she could, and that still managed to eat up a few minutes of her time limit, considering that she had to find half of her clothes. Jason Quartermaine had never struck her as someone who could go at it with such reckless abandon. Listening to Emily talk, Jason was the purest of the pure, an angel in a human body. Yeah, Jason was a good guy, but totally pure? Emily had no idea, and that was just fine with Sam. She was still getting used to the idea of having a girlfriend (hell, of having friends altogether) and there was a level of sharing that Sam didn't want to ascend to.

By the time she made it down the stairs, she figured she had about six or seven minutes to meet her deadline. She lost another two when she stopped on the bottom of the stairs, thinking she saw Jason with his hand on the door. She almost called out to him, asked him why he hadn't left yet, when he turned to the side and she saw that it was AJ. With both of them about the same height and a shadow making the back of AJ's hair seem darker, it was an easy mistake.

"You're in a rush."

Sam shrugged. "My uncle is downstairs." AJ grimaced, and Sam took no offense. Stefan hadn't exactly made friends during his tenure in Port Charles. "I'd stop and talk, but I've got maybe five minutes before he comes up here."

"Then don't let me stop you." AJ pulled the door open and stepped to the side. Sam gave him a nod as she grabbed her boots by the door and ran out. She considered the elevator, then decided she was better off taking the stairs.

Sam took the stairs two at a time, certain she was going to go tumbling down on the next set. She made it to the bottom with a minute to spare, and used that minute to put on her shoes. When she stood up from zipping her boot, the car window was down and Stefan stared out at her. He held up his arm and Sam saw his watch as clearly as she saw the finger that tapped against its face.

Muttering under her breath, Sam walked to the car. The door opened and she slid inside. Stefan took in her appearance, and Sam really didn't care. She had to admit that sometimes, when he did his appraisal, she felt concerned. Stefan commanded respect, and she wanted to be up to his standards as much as she was able. She wasn't her mother. She wasn't going to wear business suits every day, but she could at least have neat clothes, shining boots, and decent hair. This morning? Not likely. Her hair was a mess. She hadn't even had time to pull a comb through it. Her clothes were wrinkled, and he undoubtedly knew they were the same clothes he had seen her in yesterday. Oh well. If he wanted her presentable, he had to give her more than ten minutes.

"Okay," she said, "what is this about?" Sam often used Stefan to practice her fearless attitude. In her line of work, she couldn't let someone know that they put even the smallest amount of fear in her, and while she had occasionally been a little intimidated, no one gave off intimidation like Stefan. If Sam could hold her fearless façade in front of him, then she could do it in front of anyone.

"This is about your mother," he said, "if you can spare the time."

Sam took offense at that and she made sure that it was on her face. She always had time to talk about her mother, especially if there was something going on. She also sat up straight, and gave him her full attention.

"I have reason to believe that the playboy your mother decided to make her husband is cheating on her."

Sam couldn't say anything for a minute. She could only stare with her jaw dropped. This? This was what he had gotten her out of bed for? This was why he'd put the fear of his psychotic mother in her with just a few words? Because he thought Jax was cheating on Alexis?

Sam's mouth opened and closed twice before she found her voice. "Are you kidding me? You think Jax is cheating on Mom?" She laughed, and though it was obvious that Stefan didn't appreciate her laughter, Sam couldn't stop. Besides the fact that infidelity was no reason to get out of bed, the idea that Jax would cheat on her mother wasn't something she could wrap her mind around.

By the time Stefan had manuevered Sam into Port Charles, Alexis and Jax were already married and Kristina Jane was two years old. There was some history there, she had been told. They were best friends long before it changed into anything else. From what Sam saw, Jax had been nothing but faithful to Alexis. She had no reason to believe that he was cheating on her. Stefan, though, was another story.

Stefan had never trusted Jax. He made that abundantly clear. In fact, he made it pretty clear that no one in his family had picked mates that were up to his standards. Jasper Jacks was a rich playboy who had even less ethics in business than Stefan. Emily was a Quartermaine, as was Jason, and that was enough for him to dislike either of them. At least with Sam, he wasn't required to be family with the offending person, and he was quick to tell her on any given occasion that he hoped it would remain that way.

All distaste and dissatisfaction aside, however, Stefan did love his family, and he wouldn't abandon them just because they chose to share life, bed, or whatever with someone he didn't like. He was always looking for something to back up his feelings on a person, and if he found something, he would pounce on it. Obviously, he thought he had found something.

Sam choked off her laughter and leaned back on the seat. She threw an arm over the back of the seat and turned to fully face her offended uncle. "Alright," she said, "what do you think you know?"

"I know that he's been secretive, and if you ask your mother, she will tell you the same thing."

"Alright." Sam nodded slowly. "He could just be planning some kind of surprise. Mom has been working a lot lately, and that last case against Corinthos really took a lot out of her."

"Yes," he said, "it did, and it was a case she should never have had to prosecute. If she had stayed on as family attorney, her life would be a lot easier."

"I'm sure it would, but that doesn't mean she'd be happy. She likes her job, Uncle. She enjoys it." Her time around Nikolas had brought her into more familiar territory with Stefan. Until a few months ago, he was still Stefan. In fact, her mother had still been Alexis. Though her mother was kind to her, grateful to know that the daughter she had given up as a teenager was okay, that she had grown into a pretty successful woman on her own, Sam had still kept her distance, just in case. She had been burned by one family. She didn't want it to happen again. Somehow, Nikolas had managed to convince her that they were there to stay, that this set of Cassadines didn't abandon one another. He turned them into Mom and Uncle.

Stefan sighed. "Are you a private investigator or not?"

"I'm a private investigator," Sam said with a groan.

"Then investigate." Stefan sat up straight and faced front. That was a certain dismissal if Sam had ever seen one. She probably should have been offended, but she was used to it. Stefan had been hiring her to look into things for a few years before she ever came to Port Charles. She had actually asked him once how long he'd known that she was his niece and if that was the reason he'd even gone to her. There were a lot of PI's out there, and most of them had been at it longer than Sam. He never answered her question, which was enough to make Sam think that he'd known if not the first time he hired her, then he knew the second.

There was a lot of information that she wanted out of him that she'd never get. Unlike other men she had tried to investigate, and one better believe she'd investigate a guy after he had manuevered her the way Stefan had, her uncle hid his tracks well. He used Alexis to get her into town, offering her as a PI for a case that she was working on, and once she was there, not much time had passed before he told everyone the truth. Sam had now been in Port Charles for three years, and she had been trying to find out information on Stefan for the majority of that time. There was definitely something there to find, he just hid it too well. His lack of a trail plus his need to tell people only what he wanted them to know meant that there were a lot of things that Sam would just never find out.

Sam tossed one last look at her uncle, then turned away. She opened the car door and, as her right foot hit the sidewalk, the ground moved beneath her. Sam's eyes widened and she jumped out of the car. "What the hell?" Others on the street had felt it, too, and each one seemed to be looking at everyone else for validation. _Did you feel that, too? It wasn't just me. I'm not losing it._

Sam looked to each side. She looked in front of her and behind her, and that was when she saw the smoke rising into the sky, thick black smoke that tunnelled up high. She stepped back away from the car door slowly, and in a moment, her uncle was out of the car. Sam only gave him a moment's thought, because her mind went to Jason. Chances were he was already on his way to the explosion that had just shaken the city.

Sam looked at Stefan. "Terrorists, you think?"

"In Port Charles?" He shook his head. "This town is too small for most to care." Well, with all the things wrong with the place, that was at least a decent reason to stay there. "Mor ethan likely, this has something to do with Corinthos."

"Or your mother," she said snidely.

Stefan shook his head. "More than likely Corinthos," he said. "My mother much prefers less theatrical displays of violence." The sirens of police cars, fire trucks and ambulances pierced the morning air. "Yes," Stefan said, sliding back into his seat in the back of the car. "I would say definitely Corinthos."

When he was inside, Sam closed the door. The window rolled down and she put her head inside. "You always think it's Corinthos."

"No," he said, "sometimes it's my mother." Stefan cracked the faintest hint of a smile, the first one she recalled seeing on his face in two days. It disappeared quickly. "When you have done some work on this case, you will be able to find me at home. I hope that you, as well, will be spending tonight there."

The window went up and Sam just barely managed to pull her head back before it touched her. Huh, she thought. There was probably more for her to think of his parting comment, but huh was about the only thing that came to mind right then. Too many of her thoughts were on that rising smoke, the increasing sounds of emergency personnel, and what would be the fallout of that explosion.


	3. Chapter 3

The Port Charles Hotel was far enough away from the docks that only a tremble shook them. The building was still intact, and people on the highest floors barely felt anything at all. On the elevator, headed up to Jax's suite, AJ Quartermaine was rocked from side to side a few seconds as the elevator swayed on its cables. He held onto the sides and reassured himself that he had not had anything to drink and he wasn't just shaky on his legs. Yes, the elevator did shake. Something had happened.

AJ held onto the side of the elevator as it continued its ascent and only let go when the doors opened. There were a few people in the halls, most of them on cell phones. AJ couldn't get a clear story from so many one-sided conversations, but he did get the gist of it. His suspicions in the elevator were confirmed. Something happened.

AJ weaved through the crowd, wishing he hadn't left his briefcase in the office downstairs so he could use it as a riot control device to push his way through the growing crowds. By the time he actually made it to Jax's door, his boss was already on his way to join the people in the hallway, phone to his ear.

"What happened?"

Jax dipped his cell phone down and said, "Explosion at the docks. I don't know more than that yet." He put the phone back to his ear and when he said, "Alexis," AJ knew that it would be at least a few more minutes before Jax had anything else to say.

AJ moved past Jax and went into the suite. The television was on and AJ perched on the sofa in front of it mid-broadcast. The news choppers and ground reporters had made it to the site before emergency crews. The ABC affiliate's chopper flew overhead, avoiding the billowing smoke, as the flames leapt and moved to the next building down the line. The NBC affiliate already had field reporters on the scene, shouting to be heard over the roar of the blaze and the sirens of crews that were almost there. AJ heard the NBC woman call it an inferno, but he didn't hear much else. The ambient noise was just too loud.

As the emergency crews pulled up, AJ was more alert. Fire trucks led the brigade, men and women jumping off and getting to work even before the trucks had come to a complete stop. The fire was quickly getting out of control. Knowing the area that was being destroyed, AJ felt only moderately guilty about his thoughts that they should let the fire run its course. If they did some damage control to keep it from spreading into the city and to actual useful parts of the docks, pushing the fire back toward the water, the harbor would take care of the rest.

That particular area along the docks was nothing more than gang land. Sonny Corinthos used those warehouses to store his black market product and conduct illegal business. Maybe if he lost his place of business, they could finally run him out of town. Maybe Alexis could even use this fire against him in court.

AJ stopped just short of hoping Corinthos was in the warehouse when it blew. The guy was a blight, sure, but he had never done anything to AJ personally for him to wish Corinthos dead. Since the death of Stone Cates, AJ had very little contact with the man, and even when Jason had given the dying Stone use of the Quartermaine gym, AJ had little to do with any of them. Of course, those weren't the best of AJ's days, anyway. They definitely weren't his most friendly and caring. Those were the rough times, the heavy drinking times, what AJ called the "I was a downright asshole" times.

AJ felt movement at his side and looked quickly to the right. Jax could be a loud man when he wanted to be, but he could also be extremely quiet. AJ hadn't even heard him come back in. Or, maybe, he was just too busy staring at the television, waiting for more crew to arrive.

"You see him yet?"

AJ shook his head. "No," he said, "but he'll be there. Looks like everyone is going to be there." AJ's finger hovered over the buttons of the remote control. He wanted to flip through the channels again, see if someone else had a different angle, but he wasn't there to watch the news. AJ was there to discuss business. Besides, Jason would be pretty annoyed with him to know that AJ was blowing off work just because something happened in a town where something always happened.

Decision made, AJ muted the television and stood up. He could have turned it off, but hey, it was on when he walked in, anyway. Maybe Jax wanted to see it. "What did Alexis have to say?" AJ asked.

"Not much, unfortunately." The Australian businessman gave off cool and collected very well, even though AJ was sure that he was quaking inside. Alexis was a very hands on District Attorney, and if that explosion had anything to do with Corinthos (yeah, right, if), then she was going to be on the scene, as close as they would let her stand, getting udpates.

"One of the Corinthos warehouses exploded," Jax said, and AJ resisted the urge he suddenly had to yell, _Ha! I knew it!_ "They won't know much about cause until the fire has been controlled."

AJ sighed a breath of relief. That fire was crazy, so that meant it would be a while before Jason had to get too close. There were a lot of years when AJ resented his younger brother, especially when it came to their mother. He was Monica's biological child. Jason was the adopted child of a woman who had an affair with her husband. Yet, somehow, Monica always seemed to prefer Jason over AJ. He was getting over it, though, and without the liquor in his system, coming to understand that Monica's preferences were not Jason's fault. Now, he just worried about his brother.

Jax put a hand on AJ's shoulder and AJ's head jerked up. He and Jax were roughly the same height, give or take a few inches, and even without a height issue, it was easy to look Jax in the eye. He may have been a ruthless business man, as evidenced by his purchase of the Port Charles Hotel out from under the Quartermaines, but as an individual, in every day, personal life, he was caring and easy to talk to. "I know you're worried," Jax said, "but your brother will be fine. He can handle himself."

AJ nodded in agreement, but his words betrayed the sentiment. "But, he shouldn't have to," AJ said. "He should be safe at the hospital. He was technically an M.D. when he left the family because of me. All he had to do was his residency. Because of my mess…"

"Not because of your mess," Jax interrupted him. "Because he's your brother and he chose to help you. He chose to do everything that he's doing right now."

Jax would know all about the choices of brothers. He found himself often in a very similar situation as Jason and AJ. Jax was the younger brother who had to clean up his own older brother's messes, so of course, he would look at it differently. He wasn't like Ned or Grandfather, who reminded him every time they crossed paths that not only was he working for the enemy (which was hilarious considering how much they loved Jax until he snatched the hotel out from under them), but he had ruined his little brother's life. Jax believed in every man making his own decisions, being accountable for his own actions, and taking responsibility for every choice. He told that to AJ as often as he thought was necessary to get it through to him. AJ's skull was pretty thick, so he might have to tell it a lot.

Jax's hand fell from AJ's shoulder, and he shook the whole thing off. The explosion at the docks didn't have anything to do with him, and Jason was pretty good at staying out of trouble. He'd be fine. It was time to get to work. AJ was lucky to have a job, at all, and he wanted to keep it. The way Jax's head kept swivelling to the television said that he needed to put his mind on something else, too.

"So, yeah," he said, "we've got problems with the surrounding area. Ned and Grandfather are playing dirty. They working to stall us, maybe even stop us, on the expansion of the hotel." AJ smirked. "I pretty much expected it. Grandfather doesn't lose well."

"If he's going to fight against me, then he should learn, shouldn't he?" A wicked smirk curved Jax's lips. AJ never thought he'd meet a businessman more ruthless than his grandfather, and until he'd actually witnessed the way Jax did business, he wouldn't have guessed the carefree Aussie was anything close. There was a reason that Jax was described as a corporate head hunter, and he was damn good at it.

Jax's strange mixture of corporate callousness and human decency worked well in AJ's favor. Having a somewhat distant family connection didn't hurt, either. Once they were out on their own, AJ knew that Jason would be fine, but he didn't know what he would do, himself. Most places around town wouldn't hire hm. They were either afraid of the Quartermaines, or they knew too much about his problems and didn't trust him. Besides, the only real experience he had was working the front desk at the hotel after high school, and the occasional jobs that Edward trusted him to do with ELQ.

Jax, however, was not afraid of the Quartermaines. He had made that very clear. He may have been worried about AJ's reliability at one point, but AJ was almost positive that Emily had talked him into trusting AJ enough to give him a chance. Or, more than likely, Emily convinced Nikolas, who convinced Alexis, who told her husband that it really was a humanitarian effort, proving to the Quartermaines and everyone else that it was a good thing to take a chance on people. The Cassadines had given an example of how a family should work together and help each other, which was odd considering that the Cassadines beat even the Quartermaines in the Dysfunctional Family Olympics.

As far as AJ could tell, he had done a pretty good job at proving his family wrong, and showing Jax that he hadn't made a mistake in hiring him. He showed up for work on time, and he busted his ass to make sure that things went smoothly. AJ was part manager of the hotel and part personal assistant for Jax. He was apparently a lot better at directing other people's lives than his own.

"That he should," AJ said with a laugh.

"I'm going to make some phone calls," Jax told him. "My judges beat Edward's judges , and I'll have us back on track in no time. Make sure the contractors are still ready to go. I still plan to begin on the same date."

"Everything is still set to go." AJ's head turned to the side, and then he whipped it back around. He was not going to dwell on what was happening with the fire. He had work to do and, damn it, he was going to do it.

"You okay, AJ?"

He nodded. "I'm good," he said, then repeated, "I'm good. I'm getting back to work and if anything happens with Jason, someone will tell me, right?" Jax gave him a nod and an encouraging smile. If anything happened…

AJ stopped himself from going there because nothing was going to happen. Jason could take care of himself, and even if there was trouble, he would be surrounded by the Port Charles Police Department, the fire department, and a whole host of medical personnel. Jason was going to be fine. Yeah, and if he kept telling himself that, he just might believe it by the time he made it back downstairs to his office.


	4. Chapter 4

"Do you feel that?" The morning light was rising over the horizan and Nikolas Cassadine watched as the light rose in the sky. His sleep had been fitful, and he had finally decided to give up his attempts at sleep. Nikolas dressed in simple black slacks and a polo shirt, an ensemble that his uncle would surely look down on when he saw him later in the day. Stefan was adamant that a prince should always dress stately, even if that prince had no real kingdom to lord over.

Emily Quartermaine-Cassadine stood behind him and Nikolas could sense her eyes widened with shock as she asked, "How did you know I was standing there?"

"I'll always know when you're near," he said without turning. He dropped his crossed arms to his side. "Why are you up so early?" He knew this his wife liked to sleep in.

"Well, when I rolled over onto your cold side of the bed, it kind of brought me out of sleep. And, let me tell you, Prince Nikolas, I was having a rather amazing dream."

"Oh, really?"

"Definitely. I was, well, I was cast as myself, but you… Suddenly, you became Gerard Butler, and oh, was it hot."

Nikolas turned as her feigned excitement turned into giggles. Nikolas liked that she was a giggler. She brought light to Spoon Island, a place that normally thrived in shadows and fog. Wyndemere wasn't nearly as drab when she was around, not as somber and solemn as his uncle seemed to like it. How Stefan managed to stay so morose when Emily came around was a mystery to Nikolas. Some people just enjoyed their seriousness, he supposed. Though, sometimes, he wondered if Stefan really enjoyed anything at all.

Emily's giggles faded away as Nikolas put his arms around her. She was warm against him, but he knew that in the early morning air, she would be cold seen. Emily hadn't bothered to put on a coat, and had probably only remembered as she was heading out the door to put on shoes. "So," she said as she pulled back from him to look up into his eyes, "what am I supposed to be feeling?"

Nikolas shook his head and, with his arms still loosely around her, turned them both to look over the water. "I don't know. There's just… something."

"You're having one of those days."

Nikolas nodded. He knew that Emily thought it was paranoia, and maybe he was slightly paranoid, but he'd gone through enough with his grandmother that he expected, almost every day, for something bad to happen. He woke every day, waiting for that feeling, a hint that she was going to do something that day. Nikolas was starting to believe in omens.

"Is Spencer still sleeping?"

Emily smiled, and with her, so did Nikolas. At two years old, their son was both a reason to smile and a reason to groan, though the latter was not his fault. Spencer was the biggest link between the Cassadines and the Quartermaines, and the biggest contention. The arguments between Stefan Cassadine and Edward Quartermaine involving the small boy were becoming legendary, and Emily had made more than one joke about grabbing the popcorn, especially when Edward started to bluster about his grandson and Stefan countered with the fact that he was a blood relative of the child and Edward was not.

That wasn't to say that Stefan was happy to win that argument, and it was definitely one that no one could say he lost. In the battle for blood rights, Stefan did win over Edward. Though Stefan did love Spencer, there was nothing that would make him acceptable to his name. Nikolas was grateful that Stefan had connected with Spencer, had been hoping that his love for his nephew would outweigh his distaste for all things Spencer family related, but every now and again, Nikolas was prepared for another go-round. They weren't arguments, really, and they weren't attempts by Stefan to have Spencer's name changed. Stefan knew when he couldn't win an argument. He merely felt the need to express his displeasure. Those moments were frustrating, but they always ended in amusement. Stefan seemed to have pick up some degree of passive-aggressiveness from the denizens of Port Charles, and he would only mention how there were much more suitable names for the boy, and then immediately pick him up and carry him into another room to participate in whatever Stefan deemed to be suitable play.

Emily leaned in, let her hands rest on Nikolas's biceps and kissed and his lips. "Spencer is sleeping wonderfully." She ran her hands up and down his arms, below his short sleeves. "You're dressed for a slow business day."

"I'm dressed for a no business day," he said with a smile. "I thought the three of us could have a day together, if you have nothing else planned."

Emily's face lit up. There had been more family business than usual for Nikolas the past couple of weeks. It was just another reason that he thought his grandmother was up to something. The work felt like a lead-in to something, like it was pushing him in a direction. Or maybe he was just paranoid. Whatever the case, he finally had a free day and Emily looked as excited about the prospect of their day together as he had hoped she would be.

Nikolas knew that Emily grew bored. She hadn't planned her life to be a princess. She hadn't known what she was going to do, not for sure, but Nikolas always knew she would do something. She had thrown herself into some work with the hospital for a while, and there was charity work on her plate. Once Spencer was born, she had found something that made her life feel meaningful, but still, even though she didn't talk about it, Nikolas knew that sometimes Emily felt a little bit bored, a little bit lonely.

She kissed him again. "Of course, I…" And then the water quaked and the ground shook. They were near the edge of an overhang, and instints moved Nikolas to push her back. Nikolas turned around, and he saw the fire and smoke. It was off to the side, maybe a mile or two away from where the launch waited to give rides to and from Spoon Island.

"What was that?" Nikolas started to say something rude. Wasn't it obvious? Then he realized that he was standing in front of Emily and she couldn't see the inferno raging across the waterfront. He moved to the side and Emily's intake of breath was sharp. "Oh my God." It was little more than a whisper.

The wind served to blow the fire away from the launch area of the docks, but it also breathed life into the fire. Was this the something he had felt on the air that morning? His family liked to boast of having everything from tsars and tsarinas to gypsies that passed down curses. Maybe the gyspy part wasn't too far off. He had known something was going to happen, felt it.

Nikolas shook his head. Gypsies or not, he wasn't psychic. The morning had just been too quiet, too still. The building that exploded… Nikolas knew that building. It was one of Sonny Corinthos's warehouses. Nikolas had probably just seen something moving over there and knew that Corinthos was up to no good. Everyone always knew that Corinthos was no good. The problem was that no one was really able to do anything about it.

"That's one of Sonny's places," Emily said quietly. "If this has something to do with him…" He turned to her and Emily's eyes were wide, her jaw dropped. Her grip on Nikolas's arms tightened. Her fingers dug into his forearms. "God, Nikolas, Jason is going to be there! And if this is something to do with Sonny, then Alexis will probably be there, too!"

Nikolas pulled his wife close and held her as tight as he could. He always wanted to protect her, to make her feel better. There was a time when Nikolas never would have thought of her as anything other than a sister. He remembered that first kiss she had laid on him, when she was young and had a crush on him, and the way that he had jerked back. If he'd known that she would be so important to him, so entrenched in his heart, he'd have never jerked away. He held her like he could make up for the old times when he didn't know just how much he loved her and he could make her realize that those times would never exist again.

"They'll be fine," Nikolas told her as he smoothed her hair. "Your brother won't even be able to go in until the fire is under control, and Alexis has enough sense to stay back until it's safe. You don't have to worry."

Nikolas hoped that his own worry didn't taint his voice and turn his words hypocritical. Logically, he knew that Alexis could take care of herself, but personally… He knew that Alexis was headstrong, and he also knew that fires were unpredictable. Who was to say that the current safe zone wouldn't become a dangerous area with just a small change in wind direction?

"We're going to stay right here," he said to Emily, "until we know it's safe." At the moment, Wyndemere had to be the safest place in Port Charles. The fire would be unable to jump the water and make it to Spoon Island.

"We should have everyone else come out here, too," Emily said. "Alexis can bring Kristina, and I'll call Lucky and Liz, tell them to bring Cameron. I'll tell AJ to come, too, and Sam and…" She stopped, finally thinking. She shook her head. "It's too close to the docks, isn't it?" Emily's voice shook with dread. "It's too dangerous to get to the launch right now."

"Please," Nikolas said, "calm down. For Spencer's sake. That explosion shook the entire island, and I'm sure he's awake by now. Mrs. Lansbury—"

"Spencer!" Emily's hands flew to her mouth. "Oh God, he must be terrified. I—I'm going to go and make sure he's okay. You call everyone, okay? Call around and make sure everybody's fine and nobody's in range of the fire."

Nikolas nodded. "I'll call. You go check on Spencer. He'll calm you."

"Spencer," she said softly. Her head nodded slowly. "I'll be calm," she said. "We'll all be calm and we'll all be fine."

Nikolas kissed Emily, then watched as she walked away. He kept his eyes on her until she was out of sight, and then he turned back to the scene across the water. The fire was already starting to travel, and the fire trucks were only now arriving. No bother. They were trained professionals, and they knew what they were doing. Instead of watching the fire, Nikolas turned his attention to the thick, black smoke that was rising into the air. That was the thing that worried him, the only part of the fire that Nikolas felt could touch him. If that smoke came this way…

No, he had to think positively. The wind wasn't blowing in his direction, and until a change happened, it would continue to blow away from Spoon Island. He didn't have to worry about the fire. He only had to keep his wife and son calm, and to do that, he was going to go back inside and make some phone calls. Once Emily knew that their family was alright, she would be in a much better state. Then, she would have nothing to worry about.

But still, there was something that nagged him, some kind of Cassadine sense that told him that safety was not so easily obtained. That same sense told him that it was indeed best to stay put on Spoon Island for a while, maybe even a couple of days. It also told him that maybe, just maybe, Emily was right. Maybe they should bring their loved ones out to the island with them. Maybe it was paranoia, but it couldn't hurt to be prepared, to have a safe place to land, just in case.


	5. Chapter 5

Jason didn't know why he was there. They should have called the coroner instead of the ambulance. There was no way that anyone survived that explosion. The fire was eating everything, and by the time emergency personnel had shown up, the blaze was already pushing along the docks with the wind. There was nothing for Jason do except watch the devestation and hope that it didn't come in his direction.

He would have been bored if the fire hadn't been so awe-inspiring. This definitely wasn't Jason's first fire, but it was the biggest. The smoke pillar that stretched into the sky was already the biggest he'd seen. The flames ate everything in their wake, devouring the waterfront property. Jason felt a smirk passing across his lips. At least this would get rid of the mob for a while.

He wondered if Corinthos was inside when the building blew up. Jason knew that Sonny Corinthos was a bad man that had done bad things. On the other hand, he knew that the guy had had some bad turns over the years, that he had lost people and lost friends. There was pity in his heart for him, and Jason was never one to wish horrible things on anyone. However, a part of him had to admit that life in Port Charles would probably be safer if Sonny Corinthos wasn't around. Well, that is, until the next mobster decided to show up and take control of the waterfront. If there was a waterfront left to control.

Jason walked away from the line that the fire fighters had set up and back toward his unit. There was nothing to do up at the barricade but get wet as the fire fighters hosed down everything in an attempt to dampen the fire in case it tried to come back in their direction. Jason thought that maybe they would redirect the emergency vehicles to the other end. Commissioner Scorpio was there, and Mac was already ordering evacuation on the other end. There were bound to be people who needed help on that end, especially if it turned into a stampede.

As he neared the ambulance, the sounds lessened. Not knowing what was ahead of them, seeing only fire, Jason's partner had parked the vehicle away from the lines. They ran up to see that there was nothing they could do. His partner had already turned back, saying that he had seen enough fire. Jason thought he would elaborate, but he only shook his head and went back to the ambulance.

A sound came from the left, and Jason's head turned. He stood still, listening, but he heard nothing else. Shaking his head, he kept walking. Jason chalked it up to the paranoia he'd felt that morning, the feeling that he should go back inside. Maybe the fire was the terrible thing that he had felt coming. Somehow, he didn't think that was it, though. Behind him, he could still hear the murmurs of the gathering crowd. He suddenly had an urge to tell them not to stand too closely. He didn't, though. He kept walking.

Then, another sound, and Jason stopped again. He turned slowly, staring at the water. There was definitely something over there. Jason moved slowly to the docks edge, inching his way forward. He probably should have moved quicker. For all he knew, someone could have been there who needed help. Maybe someone had been blown into the water by the explosion and the water current pushed them back this far.

With the image of someone in need flashing in his head, Jason did move faster. He was almost at a run when he stopped at the edge and dropped to his knees. He looked down and saw nothing. "Hello!" Jason called out. He waited for an answer, and when none came, he shouted again. This time, there was a gurgle. Jason called again and a hand shot out of the water.

Jason's body jerked back as he shouted, "Shit!" His jerk rose him up off his knees and put him off balance. Jason fell backward, then scrambled back to his knees. He dropped down flat and put his hand out. The hand was still in the water, waving back and forth. Another shot forward, then a head. "Oh God," Jason muttered.

He reached forward and tried to reach the floundering hands, but he couldn't reach. He needed to jump in and get him, but if he jumped, he wouldn't be able to get both of them back up. Jason shouted, "Stay afloat! Keep your head above water!"

He jumped to his feet and ran back to the ambulance. He was only a few feet away when he stopped, and he was at the side of the ambulance in moments. He slapped the side as he came up on the open door. "I've got a live one, Casey! Come on! He's in the water!"

Jason turned before his partner was out of the car. He was already back down, flat on his stomach, when he heard Casey's footsteps. Casey dropped down beside him. "I can't reach," Jason told him, "and he'll have drowned by the time we find something to get him out."

Casey muttered something that sounded like "let him drown," and Jason turned toward him, scowling. "I didn't hear what I think I heard."

Casey shrugged. "It's Sonny Corinthos, Jase. I'm not the only one in town that would think that."

"He's a drowing man," Jason said, "and we are not having this conversation." Jason pushed himself to his feet, wondering for a moment if his anger toward Casey made him a hypocrite. Hadn't he just been wondering if Corinthos was in the warehouse when it blew? Hadn't he thought about how much better the town would be without him? Sure, but the difference was that Jason didn't wish the guy did. He just thought of the good that could come of it.

Jason flung off his jacket and kicked off his shoes. Corinthos was still bobbing up and down in the water, his head up, but occasionally going down until the water cut his face at the nose. Jason took two steps back, rose his arms, arched his back and dove into the water. He heard Casey calling his name just before he went under.

The water was cold, even though it was the tail end of spring and the days were already heating up to eighty degrees. The sun hadn't been out long enough to heat the water. Jason felt himself starting to sink. He put his legs together, pushed aside thoughts of the cold and pushed himself up. He broke through the surface and looked around. His drowning victim was gone. He wiped water out of his eyes and looked frantically to Casey.

"He went back down!" Casey pointed. "Over there!" He was pointing just a few feet to his left. "He went back down over there!"

Jason nodded and went back under water. The first time, when he dove, instinct had shut his eyes. This time, he went under with his eyes open, looking for any sign of the drowning man. Within a few seconds, he saw a light shirt and a jacket billowing out as a body sank. Jason sliced through the water and grabbed him around the waist. He pushed to the surface, dragging Corinthos with him. Corinthos sputtered as his head broke the surface and a wave of relief washed over Jason. He was alive. At the same time, though, he felt a sadness. He was kind of a hypocrite, after all, because he knew that Corinthos would pick up where he left off the moment he was out of the hospital. No, Jason hadn't wished him dead and hadn't allowed him to die, but he still would have been happier if he had. He was going to learn, soon, that he was definitely not the only one.

Jason hoisted Corinthos up and Casey was hesitant about grabbing him. Jason looked up at his partner and saw shock on his face. That was odd. There wasn' t much that shocked Casey these days. "Casey!" At the call, Casey reached down and grabbed hold of Corinthos, pulling him up. When he was laid out on the ground, he reached over and pulled Jason out, as well.

A crowd was gathering around them. Jason hadn't noticed them when he was in the water, and with his eyes on the man that was no longer his victim and now his patient, he only noticed them because he bumped into some of them as he moved closer. Looking at Corinthos, Jason knew why Casey had hesitated. The right side of his body was covered in burns that could have only been made worse by the water. His charred and blackened skin flaked to reveal the pink, fresh flesh beneath it. Between his burns and the time he must have spent underwater to have only been just found, it was a wonder that he was alive, and no wonder at all that he had shocked Casey.

Jason wondered, how did he miss the burns when he first saw him in the water, and could only imagine that his brain took in the important parts and left the secondary details for later. Right at that moment, the burns didn't matter. A man was drowning, and to save him, he had to get him out of the water. Now that they were both out of the water, Jason could focus on the secondary. He could focus on the burns.

Casey was already down at Corinthos's side. Jason asked, "Pulse?"

"It's weak, but it's there. Breathing is shallow. We have to get him to GH, and we've gotta get him there, now."

Jason nodded. Well, it turned out that this fire wasn't going to be so horribly boring at all. Jason ran to the ambulance and started pulling out the necessities. Let the fire fighters handle the fire, he had a life to save.


	6. Chapter 6

Dr. Robin Scorpio sat back from her microscope and shook her head in disbelief. This was just… It wasn't possible. She was sure that she was just tired. Robin was working a lot lately, not getting enough sleep. That had to be the explanation. Nothing else made sense.

Rubbing her eyes with the heels of her palms, Robin leaned forward again. She took a deep breath, stared into the microscope… and decided that someone must be playing a prank on her. Patrick? Hm, maybe. This was the kind of thing he would find funny, or it was the kind of thing that he might use to make her see that she needed to get some rest. _See, Robin? You're seeing things, and that means you need to go home and get some sleep. Told you I was right._

Well, she was just going to have to call him on this. Robin didn't know when he'd gotten his hands on the Corinthos blood sample, but obviously, between it being drawn and making its way to the lab, he had done something to it. There was just no way…

Robin shook her head, then pushed herself back from her work bench. She stood up and headed for the door, stripping off her purple nitrile gloves as she walked. She tossed the gloves into a biohazard bin near the door, then stepped out into the hallway.

The hospital was eerily quiet. Robin took this as a bad sign. Surgeons often said that a quiet board meant trouble. Well, Robin wasn't a surgeon, but she knew that a silent hospital, especially the day of such a major event as the explosion, meant that nothing good was happening. It meant that patients weren't being brought into the ER. It meant that, instead, bodies were being taken to the morgue.

Sonny had been very, very lucky. He was still unconscious, a blessing for him, because awake, he'd have been in a hell of a lot of pain. It wasn't so much a blessing, however, for everyone else who wanted to know what had gone down at the waterfront. What or who had caused the explosion? How had Sonny gotten away? How did he end up in the water?

Robin was one of the few people in town that didn't despise Sonny Corinthos. Sure, she had been afraid of him for a while, but through Stone—Robin had formed a bond with Sonny that his misdeeds were just unable to break. Her heart ached for her friend, and it was just another reason she chose to believe that someone, probably Patrick, was playing tricks with his blood sample. It pained her to think that something like… like that… was taking over his bloodstream. Was taking over his body.

Robin took the elevator to the main floor, and found Patrick quickly. It was as she had suspected. There was no one else being rushed in, needing medical attention. A few patients waited for their dismissal, people who had been near enough to the blast to have only minor effects, scrapes, scratches and bruises mostly. A few car accidents were caused by people suddenly stopping as the explosion rattled the town. A couple of people had fallen down. Nothing major. Nothing that they would have expected. Robin sighed. That meant a whole lot of people were dead.

Patrick looked up from his chart, probably hearing Robin's shoes clicking against the floor, and he didn't smile at her. He would have to know that, by now, she had figured out his prank. Why wasn't he grinning with some kind of satisfaction? He was definitely playing the part of concerned significant other to the hilt.

Robin fixed a hard glare on him and stalked to him. "Alright," she said, "'fess up."

"Excuse me?"

"Don't play innocent with me, Patrick. I know you did something to Sonny's blood. Just tell me how you did it."

Patrick ran a hand through his short hair and sighed. "Robin, I have no idea what you're talking about. I haven't been near Corinthos since they moved him to ICU."

"But you were near him when they brought him in, and you were there when they drew the blood. Come on, Patrick, you did something."

"Why would I do something with his blood? That's just… You do realize how that sounds, right?"

"It sounds crazy, just crazy enough that you might have done it." Robin sighed. She folded her arms, forcing herself to stand up straight, then let them fall again. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she was kind of tired, and she didn't have the strength to give Patrick the evil glare that he deserved.

"I get it," Robin said. "I've been overworking myself and you want me to give it a rest. You put something in Sonny's blood sample to make me think I was seeing things, which would make me think that I needed to get some rest, the same rest that you've been telling me that I need."

"Well, you do need some rest—"

"Aha!" Robin barked. "So you did do something!"

"—but," he continued, "I didn't do anything to Corinthos's blood sample. How would I even know that you'd be the one to look at it, huh?"

"Of course I'd be the one that looked at the sample! We both know that, despite anything else, that sample was sent for a full work-up because Uncle Mac wants proof that Sonny had something in his system, which is ridiculous because no matter what else he does, Sonny doesn't use drugs. Of course, I was going to insist on handling his bloodwork myself, just I could prove that point. Sonny does not use drugs." Robin would have extended her comment to say that Sonny has nothing to do with drugs, but there was only so much that she could deny. Maybe he didn't deal in them, anymore, but she knew about his past with Karen and, well, Robin was trying to push for more positive things with people where Sonny was concerned. She wasn't trying to make them remember the past.

"Robin."

She hadn't realized that she had drifted until Patrick called her name. Robin's thoughts weren't always the best place to be, and as she was pulled into her past with Sonny, with Stone… Robin was glad that Patrick pulled her out of it. "What?"

"I asked, what did you find? You obviously found something in the blood if you're accusing me of messing with it."

Robin shook her head. "The sample's contaminated. I need to get a new sample and test it again."

"Robin, if you found drugs or something—"

"I didn't find drugs," she snapped at him. "I found…" She shook her head. "It doesn't make sense what I found, which is why I assumed someone messed with the sample. " Robin sighed and put a hand to her forehead. She could have used a nap. This thing was giving her a headache.

Robin let her hand fall to her side and said, a little more calmly, "Maybe the tube was contaminated or something, I don't know. I just know that it doesn't make sense. Whether you did it or not, the bloodwork is no good. I have to do it again."

Robin turned and walked away, heading for the elevator. Patrick called out after her, and she ignored him. Maybe he was being sincere. Maybe he didn't do anything, which meant that there was something else going on. Robin would just have to draw the blood herself, make sure that no one but her touched the vial on its way to the lab. For all she knew, someone else was trying to prove that Sonny was up to something and had contaminated the blood. She just wished she knew what was used, because those results—

Robin took the elevator up to ICU, and the moment she stepped out of the elevator, she wished she could go back inside. There were police everywhere. She didn't even want to see what it looked like outside the hospital. Robin could only imagine the reporters out there. They had to be as thick out there as the police were in here.

Robin saw her uncle, and standing beside him, she saw the District Attorney. Great. Robin knew they had to be waiting for those test results. She loved her uncle, and she did really like Alexis (who was she kidding, Robin liked almost everybody, it was a curse), but this was not an argument she wanted to have. She just wanted to get in the room, redraw the blood, and go back to the lab. She wanted real results to prove that they were wrong.

Mac Scorpio saw Robin and instantly pushed his way through the police officers that stood idly by, none of them really knowing what to do, it seemed. Alexis came with him. Halfway to Robin, Mac stopped and called out to one of his plain clothes detectives. "Lucky!" Lucky Spencer came front and center. He was shorter than Mac, but he was a Spencer, and that cockiness and determined demeanor stuck with him. He didn't cower or cringe under the commissioner's withering glare. He just looked at him.

Mac grunted. "Get these people out of here, Lucky. I want two guards on the door, and then one on every floor leading up here."

Lucky cocked his head to the side. "You really think somebody might come here for him?"

"It's all over the news that he survived, for now. Whoever caused that explosion could come here to finish it. If they do, I want them in custody."

"You got it." Lucky gave him a curt nod, and then was off, barking out orders and assignments.

With that taken care of, Mac turned his attention back to Robin. She gulped hard, so hard that it almost hurt. Her throat was dry. Water was next on her list, right after she drew the sample. "Robin…"

She held up a hand to stop him. "Don't even ask, okay? I don't have anything for you. My sample was contaminated, so I need to draw another one and make sure it gets to my lab in one piece."

Mac fixed her with the stare of a disbelieving parent. He had perfected it over the years. He was her uncle, but he'd been the only parental figure she consistently knew for most of her life. Even now, an adult with an M.D., Robin felt small under Mac's gaze. She had to force herself to pull herself up, to look him in the eyes.

"Robin, if you found something in his blood, you can't withold it."

"I didn't—" She shook her head. Robin looked to Alexis, then back to her uncle. "Sonny is the victim here, Uncle Mac. I don't understand why you're just trying to get him put in jail. He's a victim!"

"Victim," Mac said with a snort. "Robin, I know you like the guy. I know you have a connection with him, but that doesn't change the fact that he's a bad man that does bad things. Whatever was in that warehouse was probably illegal, and for all we know, this could have something to do with drugs."

"Sonny doesn't do drugs!"

"Robin," Alexis said softly, "a trace in his system doesn't mean that he does drugs. It could mean, however, that drugs were in that warehouse when it blew up. If that's the case…" She sighed. "He may be a victim of the explosion, but it also makes him guilty of smuggling those drugs in here in the first place. Until we get your lab results, we have nothing to go on. We all know that he's not going to tell us what happened if he wakes up."

Robin noticed she said if, not when, but she didn't dwell on it. Robin had seen enough burn victims to know that Sonny might not make it. Still, it wasn't something she wanted to think about for too long. Robin sighed and her shoulders sag. "You want something, I'll give you something, but I have to get in there and get my sample, my clean sample. I'll tell you after I've run my tests again."

"Robin…"

She put up a hand. "No matter what the results, Uncle Mac, I'll tell you. I may not like it, but I'll tell you. Now, if you'll excuse me." Robin pushed her way past Mac and Alexis, and she really hoped that this new sample would be a good one. If it was bad, well… She didn't want to think about that anymore than she wanted to think about Alexis's use of if instead of when. If there were drugs in his system, then she would have to tell Mac and Alexis. And, if the results were the same as before, with … whatever it was in it, she just might have to tell the CDC.


	7. Chapter 7

"How's he doing?" Jason leaned against the door jamb, his arms folded. He kept telling himself that he didn't care what happened to Sonny Corinthos, but the truth was, he had pulled the man out of the water. He had saved his life, and therefore, he cared. Was he going to make it?

Nurse Elizabeth Spencer looked up at him with sad eyes, shaking her head. She didn't say anything, probably in case Corinthos could hear her, but she looked sad. Like most of the citizens of Port Charles, Elizabeth wasn't a Corinthos fan, but she was still a nurse, and no nurse liked to see a patient die. She pulled back her stethoscope and moved it from her ears to hanging around her neck. She went to the end of the bed, picked up his chart, wrote a few things down, then walked to Jason.

Elizabeth moved him out of the room before she said, "He's not going to make it." She sighed and looked back toward the open door. "There's just too much trauma, plus whatever is in his system."

"He was high."

She shook her head. "I can't say for sure, but… there was talk about Robin finding something in his blood. She took another sample, I guess to prove that it wasn't him."

Jason looked around the corridor, at the guards sitting on either side of the door, and the standing beside the elevator. Jason liked to think they were actually guarding an injured man, but part of him knew that they were also waiting in case they had to arrest him. Alexis and Mac might lose this one, he thought. Corinthos just might die before they got anything on him.

Elizabeth asked him, "What's it like out there?" The change in subject was so quick that, for a moment, Jason was caught off guard and he felt his face changing to match the confusion in his head. "Lucky went back out there," she said, "out to the site, and I really haven't heard anything…"

As her words trailed off, Jason nodded. Elizabeth was a worrier, which was understandable. She had a son out there, her husband was out there, and for all she knew, the town was losing its mind. People in Port Charles weren't known for staying calm under stressful situations. Jason had to admit that, for a moment, he had worried about AJ and Sam. He started to call, but he knew both of them. They were more alike than Jason would have thought. He knew, for their own reasons, each would think that he was checking up on them. AJ would tell him that the explosion didn't drive him to have a drink. Sam would say she wasn't a damsel in distress and she knew how to handle situations.

"It's actually not as bad as you'd think," Jason told her. "You've probably seen the extent of it here. A few traffic accidents, some people who don't know how to move in an orderly fashion. That's about it."

"So, um, that means you haven't found anyone else—al ive."

Jason sighed. Had any of them really thought that they would find anyone? The fire had burned so hot that there probably wouldn't be much left of anyone else that was inside. Jason didn't think of there being bodies inside of the buildings, anymore. He thought of whatever was left as remains, bits and pieces left over of what used to be human beings. He shuddered. It was horrible to think about. He only hoped that the explosion had killed whoever else was inside and they didn't have to burn to death.

Jason shook his head. "They sent most of us back," he told her. "The fire's almost out, but…" He sighed again. "No one's expecting to find anyone else."

Elizabeth opened her mouth to speak, but was stopped as alarms went off inside of Corinthos's room. She ran back into the room. Jason followed her, though he was pushed back by the police officers that stood on guard duty outside of the room. The two from from the door tried to push in at the same time, and when they finally got inside, they both stumbled. One looked back, then stuck his head out the door. "Get the commissioner and DA Davis," he called to the man standing at the elevator, then he went back inside.

Jason didn't go all the way in. He stood at the door, watching and waiting. Elizabeth slapped a button above the bed, what she guessed was the call button for more help. Corinthos thrashed on the bed. His movements tore his already stressed skin and blood seeped out, mixing with the burn gel that covered half his body. Elizabeth had a needle in her hand. She was trying to inject something into his IV, but he was moving too much, his arms wild, and Elizabeth couldn't get to the line.

Jason ran into the room, then. He was mad at himself for waiting so long. He wasn't a nurse or a doctor, but he was a paramedic, damn it, and he could do something to help. He tried to hold Corinthos down from the left side of the bed. That side of his body wasn't so damaged, and he reached it before he would have made it around the bed. He tried to grab at his other arm and managed to get him at the wrist. He knew he had to be hurting him, but at least Elizabeth was able to get the shot into the line.

It didn't do anything, though. Jason let his arm go, thinking that the sedative would soon take effect, but it didn't. Corinthos continued to trash. His arm shot out and he grabbed Elizabeth by the front of her scrubs, bunching the material in his hands. He pulled her down, and though Jason couldn't hear him, he knew he was telling her something, or at least trying to tell her something. His lips were moving. It was slow and looked painful, but his lips were definitely moving. Jason knew he should pry his hand away, or get to the other side of the bed and pull Elizabeth away, but he couldn't move.

A code team rushed into the room, pushing everyone out of the way. Elizabeth was pulled back from him. Jason was pushed to the side. Corinthos's body stopped jerking and he fell to the bed. The machines erratic beeping turned into one long beep. He was flatlining. A voice yelled, "Clear!" Hands came off and Corinthos was zapped. They waited a few seconds, nothing, and then again, "Clear!"

Only on the second call did Jason realize that his mother was the one holding the paddles. She probably didn't realize he was there anymore than he had realized she was the one coming to the rescue. Jason stood back and watched her work, subconsciously making his way around the bed. He didn't realize he was moving toward Elizabeth until he was standing next to her. Then, he knew why he had gone over there.

"What did he say to you?"

Elizabeth looked up at him in shock. The front of her scrubs was crusted with flakes of skin. She looked down at herself and batted at the black flakes. Blinking, she looked up at Jason and said, "They weren't able to peel it, yet. He was in too much distress." She looked down at Jason's hands. "Jeez! Wash your hands!"

"What?"

"Your hands!" Elizabeth grabbed his wrists and that's when he saw that he had Corinthos's skin and blood on his hands. Elizabeth jerked him toward the room's bathroom. Jason let her pull him, barely aware of the situation. She turned on the hot water and pushed his hands under. Jason jerked back. "Wash your hands!"

She was so serious, so concerned. Jason adjusted the water to a more managable heat, pumped soap into his hands and lathered. As he rolled his hands over and over, he looked at Elizabeth. "What—"

"Do you have any cuts on your hands?" He shook his head. Elizabeth sighed, but the tension didn't completely leave. "There's no telling what's in that guy's system. Robin saw something, even if she won't admit. She was pretty sure it wasn't drugs, so who knows what it might be. There could have been anything in that warehouse."

"Elizabeth, I'm fine." Jason put his hands under the water and rinsed the soap away. He hadn't felt a sting when he lathered, and upon closer inspection with the lather gone, he could see that his hands were in tact. He dried his hands, then held them up so Elizabeth could see them. "See? My hands are fine."

Elizabeth grabbed his hands, inspecting every crevice until she was comfortable. She dropped his hands and said, "Okay."

"Elizabeth…"

She shook her head. "I just—this whole thing is weird. We have an explosion and hardly anyone is hurt. Robin finds something weid in his system, and we don't hear anything from her, even after the second sample was taken, and then—"

She trailed off and Jason waited for her to go on. When she didn't, Jason said, "Elizabeth, what did he say to you?"

"He said…" She paused, looking up at him, then turned away. Elizabeth went to the doorway and Jason followed her. Monica was still trying to bring his heart back. On the other side of the bed, when she pulled away with the paddles, someone else started chest compressions. On Monica's side of the bed, someone came forward and put a bag over his mouth.

"Elizabeth…"

"He asked if the fire killed it. He said that the fire was supposed to kill it before it could spread. He said he took care of the first one, but we had to be sure. The fire was supposed to kill it." She turned to Jason as compressions were stopped, the bag was taken from his mouth and Monica replaced the paddles into their cradles. "What was the fire supposed to kill?"

Jason had no idea what either she or Corinthos was talking about, but he was still filled with dread. He remembered that feeling he had when he was leaving his apartment, that voice that told him to go back inside and stay locked in for the rest of the day. He thought about his sense that something was wrong, that something bad was going to happen.

Jason shook his head. He had been taught to look people in the eyes when talking to them, but even as Elizbeth talked, Jason's eyes had been on the scene at the bed. He couldn't tear his eyes away as his mother called time of death and someone turned the machines off. Everything just… stopped. It was like they were all frozen in time, staring down at the body before them. The scene was weird, awkward. They had all seen dead bodies before. What made this one so different?

When movement came, it was from the policemen. They looked at each other, both with a bit of fear in their eyes. They were not looking forward to telling Mac and Alexis that their prize had died. Luckily, they wouldn't have to tell them. As the last machine was turned off, they both came to the door, and they were both pissed.

Jason's eyes didn't follow his mother as she moved to the door to talk to Mac and Alexis. He didn't hear what they were saying, because the blood was rushing in his ears as he watched—Shit! He was watching Corinthos start to move! He wasn't dead!

Jason took a step forward, his mouth open to shout. He wanted to call out to them, tell them that the patient was still alive, but the words caught in his throat as the supposedly dead man sat straight up in the bed, grabbed the nearest person to him and took a chunk out of his neck. The blood stopped rushing, and now Jason could hear. He could hear the frantic, terrified screaming of the intern as Corinthos tore at him. He could hear the shouts as Monica and one of the other nurses grabbed the poor guy around the waist and tried to pull him away. He could hear Mac yelling at everyone to move so he could get a clear shot, so any of his cops could get a clear shot.

And Jason could hear his own heavy bootfalls as he grabbed Elizabeth by the wrist and ran out of the bathroom. He stopped long enough to grab his mother by the arm, and then he was out of the room. He tossed both women in front of them, shouting at them to run. Jason turned back once when he heard gunshots, then turned away when he heard screams. As his head swivelled, he saw Alexis chasing after them, heard her heels hitting the floor as she moved. He also heard her scream, "What the hell is going on!"

Jason didn't answer. There was no time for questions, no time for answers. He just knew that they all had to get out of the hospital before it was too late.


	8. Chapter 8

"The hell?" Sam had the horrible feeling that she was going in the wrong direction. How so? Because everyone was running out of the hospital, but she was trying to get inside. She tried to push her way inside, but the crowd was too thick to go straight down the middle. Sam moved to the side, waiting for the throng to thin out enough for her to get inside.

Why was she trying to get in the hospital? Because her mother was there, of course, and Sam was under orders to bring her to Spoon Island as soon as possible. Nikolas wanted everyone at Wyndemere. She was on orders to round up all Cassadines and Quartermaines and drag their asses out there if she had to do so. Nikolas said that the launch was running again and they would be picked up. He was the Cassadine prince, the head of the family, and his orders were followed.

Damn, Sam was tired of following Cassadine orders. She still thought Stefan's insistence that Jax was cheating on Alexis was stupid, but it was her uncle, and she did what she was told. He was paying her, too, so that was a plus. One thing about Stefan, she had yet to experience him using their family connection to get her to do something for free. Sometimes, it was like even though he was the one that found out about the family connection, the one to bring her into the family at all, he still had his moments where he thought of her as an employee. He wasn't comfortable with her, yet, to have her do favors. Sam didn't mind that so much. She liked getting paid.

The crowd thinned enough for Sam to shove her way inside. She expected some kind of madhouse inside of the hospital, maybe a gun-wielding lunatic or an axe murderer or something, but all she got was people running, some people being dragged. An alarm was going off, so obviously there was an emergency, but… Had most of the people already left?

Sam grabbed someone by the arm, a nurse that she didn't know. The woman's eyes were wide, panicked. "What's going on?"

"I…" She shook her head, tried to jerk free. Sam held on tight. She wasn't going anywhere until Sam got some answers. "It started in the ICU."

"What started in the ICU?" The nurse's panic was starting to worry Sam. Her mom was in this hospital somewhere. Jason was probably here somewhere, too. The nurse didn't answer her and Sam repeated with more force, "What started I the ICU!"

"I don't know! It just… It went crazy! They're-- Please, we've gotta get out of here!"

Sam released the woman and for all her talk that "we" had to get out of there, she didn't make any attempt to get Sam out of there, too. She took off and didn't even stop to look back at the doors. It started in the ICU, she had said, but what had started? Was there some kind of virus on the loose? Sam was pretty much fucked if there were, since she was breathing in the toxic air. Then again, she had to think that the hospital would have been quarantined and all of those people wouldn't have been allowed to leave. Whatever had happened was something quick, something that started so fast they only had time to turn on the alarms and tell everyone to get out of the building. Also, whatever had happened hadn't reached the first floor, yet.

Sam's hand moved to her back and she came out with her gun. Having a concealed carry permit was coming in handy. She wrapped both hands around the butt of her gun and started toward the staircase. That's where the people were coming from. Some people still trickled down, and whatever was happening, they were more afraid of that than they were the gun in her hand. The last person down the stairs threw her glance, then took off for the door.

Sam stuck her foot in the door to keep it open, then moved in just enough to look up. There was noise, and she thought she heard screaming. Common sense told her to go outside with everyone else. Of course, Sam didn't have all that much common sense. She started up the stairs. She moved slowly, carefully. One thing she had learned in her gun-toting PI years was that one did not go running into situations with a gun drawn. If she needed her gun out, then this was a situation where she needed to take her time.

The further Sam moved up the stairs, the louder the screams became. They weren't so bad on the second floor, but the third and fourth-- She didn't want to go much higher, and the little bit of sense she had left told her to stop halfway between four and five. Sam leaned against the wall and took in a deep breath. Okay, she had to think about this. Something had happened in the ICU. She had heard on the news that Sonny Corinthos had been found at the explosion site, injured. He was probalby in the ICU, so it had to have started with him. That meant that the ICU was probably where her mother could be found. Shit. She was hoping to avoid hitting ground zero.

Sam pushed off the wall. She could backtrack. ICU was on one of the lower floors, so she could probably go down to the first floor, take another stairwell, and work her way up where, hopefully, there was less screaming. Sam wanted to get her mother and get out of there. She didn't want to get involved in what was probably some kind of armed standoff between Sonny's people and the people that wanted to kill him.

Sam started down the stairs, then stopped as she heard heavy footfalls on the stairs. She stopped and pointed her gun over the side. "Who's there!"

The footfalls stopped. "Hello?"

The voice was familiar. Sam took the chance to peer over the side. "Lucky? Lucky Spencer?"

"Sam?"

Sam let out a heavy sigh. The footfalls started again, and Sam waited with her gun pointed down, still holding it in both hands. Lucky Spencer rounded the staircase and looked up at her. His gun was out, too. He eyed her gun. She eyed his. Neither of them put their guns away.

"What the hell is going on?" Sam asked him.

Lucky leaned against the railing and sighed. "I got a call from Elizabeth. She said that she, Jason, and Alexis were trapped on the fifth floor of the hospital. She said…" He shook his head. "It doesn't make any sense. It's stupid, but Elizabeth… She's not a paranoid type of person."

"Lucky, what did she say?"

He almost laughed. It was like he wanted to laugh at how ridiculous it was, but something in him still took it seriously. "She said that there were zombies eating people all over the hospital."

"Zombies?"

"Exactly. She said that Sonny Corinthos died, then came back, and started eating on one of the interns. I'd think she watched too many movies, except Elizabeth hates horror movies." Sam could see that. Elizabeth didn't strike her as the kind of girl that liked to be scared. She liked her blood and guts real. She also liked them in a clinical setting.

"Zombies," Sam said. "And my mother and Jason are with her, and there are zombies, and they're trapped on the fifth floor." Sam looked up. The fifth floor was where she stopped because it was too loud. Those screams, those painful, blood curdling screams… Sam sighed and looked at Lucky. "I'm betting the fifth floor is a bloodbath. The screams just get louder there. That's why I turned back."

"I have to go up there. I doubt it's zombies. Zombies are crazy, but whatever it is, I have to get to her." Lucky started up the stairs, and Sam finally released her two handed grip on the butt of her gun to grab Lucky's arm. He looked at her hard. "I'm going up there."

"You charge in there like that, you'll end up dead." She stopped, though about what the nurse told her. It had started in the ICU. That was below them. Why had the… zombies… gone up instead of down? It couldn't have just been Corinthos. One man couldn't have possibly made that many zombies in so little time.

"I'll go with you," Sam said. Why the hell did she have to get involved with people? Family? They seemed to be nothing but trouble. Stupid missions and expeditions into zombie land. And Jason Quartermaine? Yeah, Sam shouldn't have cared enough to go into a zombie hoarde to save him. "Two of us is better than one, right? And then we can all get the hell out of here."

Lucky nodded. He waited until he and Sam were side by side, moving up the stairs to ask, "What are you doing here?"

Sam sighed. "Nikolas sent me to round up all parts family. He figured his grandmother was up to something. He just had this paranoid feeling that we all needed to wait it out at Wyndemere. He didn't call you?"

Lucky shrugged. "He might have. I got a call when I was on with Elizabeth, but I didn't answer it, then I didn't bother checking after." They stopped at the door and Lucky said, "Ready?"

"No." Sam took in a deep breath, let it out slowly. Even with the door muffling the sound, the screaming was loud. Two people? Three, maybe? Sam reached out and grabbed the doorknob. "Yes," she said. She turned the knob, and then she stopped, because so did the screaming. She looked at Lucky. "That can't be good," she said.

"No," he said, "it can't."

They looked at each other for a few minutes, then Sam said the hell with it, and jerked open the door. She wished that she hadn't. Before, she thought about it in terms of zombies actually being there because the idea was in her head after Lucky said it. It was surprisingly easy to think about. Didn't everyone have a zombie survival plan these days? Sam almost laughed, because part of her survival plan was to get to Wyndemere, and that's exactly how this turned out to be going. She didn't laugh, though, as she watched a zombie eating a patient.

Sam had to assume that most of the victims were patients. They were the ones that wouldn't have been able to easily get out of the hospital. She had seen some people in patients' gowns leaving, and she assumed that, before she got there, as many people had been helped out as possible. They couldn't get them all, though, and with the natural human instincts of fight or flight, she had to imagine that when they realized that saving all the patients meant they would die, many of the hospital staff had chosen flight.

Epiphany had to be one of those that tried to help. Now, she was sitting on the floor, chunks missing out of her neck and her stomach torn open, viscera spilling onto the floor, eating an elderly patient that still held on to his IV stand. The man's skull was broken open, and Epiphany shoved pieces of his brains into her mouth. Sam almost vomited. How did someone who spent so much time helping others end up like this? By helping others, of course, or at least trying to help them.

Sam turned to look at Lucky. He was green around the gills and looked like he would throw up. He, too, held back the urge. He turned to Sam and their eyes met. It was like they were both thinking the same thing with their wide eyes and dropped jaws. _Holy shit, there really __**are**__ zombies here!_ They looked away from each other to take in the rest of the hallway. Their way down the hall was blocked by two more zombies chomping down. One was a patient, eating another patient. The other looked like a visitor eating one of the orderlies. How much time did they have before the eaten became zombies? Well, they didn't have to worry about Epiphany's lunch. Without a brain, he couldn't really get back up, could he?

Sam lenaed in to Lucky and whispered, "Where are they?"

He lifted his gun and pointed down the hall. "On the end," he whispered back. "Elizabeth said…" He stopped, gulped, probably choking down bile. The smell was horrendous. "She said they were on the opposite stairwell, but it was blocked, so they ducked into one of the empty patient rooms and barricaded themselves in."

Well, wasn't that great? They had to get through the zombies in front of them. Of course, this wasn't going to be easy. It wasn't fun if it was easy, right? Well, screw fun. Sam wanted easy. She sighed. "Well, we just have to do it." Sam raised her gun and trained her sights on Epiphany's head, the side, above her ear. "I really liked her," Sam said.

"So did I."

"Then, I'm doing a good thing. I'm helping." Sam gripped her gun with both hands and said, "I'm sorry, Epiphany." She fired. The bullet went into the side of Epiphany's head, and the other side of her head blew out. In the silence of the feeding, the gun blast was loud. Before Epiphany's body had fallen to the floor, the other zombies eyes were on them. Another shot rang out as Lucky fired into one of the zombies' heads. The other zombies started to rise.

Sam and Lucky set their sights, and they fired. _Damn_, Sam thought, _I really shouldn't have come to Port Charles._


	9. Chapter 9

When AJ went back up to Jax's suite, he was still in front of the television, but he also had the phone in his hand. The phone was off to the side, and there was a look on Jax's face that AJ had never seen before; complete and utter shock. There wasn't much out there that could phase the unflappable Jasper Jacks, but whatever they were saying on the news, combined with what he had heard on the phone had actually shocked him.

"Jax…" AJ walked forward and stopped as he came within sight of the television. His jaw dropped even lower than Jax's. "What the hell?"

Jax looked up at him, just realizing that he was no longer alone in the room. He recovered quickly, then. Alone, he could let the shock show. With others, even his personal assistant, he had to be Jasper Jacks, overall badass. "There's trouble at the hospital."

"And everywhere else," AJ muttered. There was death on the screen, and AJ wondered how the reporter managed to survive it. The camera moved as the cameraman jumped around, dodged bodies hurling themselves at him while trying to keep the camera on the reporter, who was doing the same thing. The sound was still off, but AJ didn't need to hear them to know what they were saying.

There were freaking zombies in Port Charles!

Just the idea made AJ stop and think, wonder if he'd had a few drinks and forgotten about them. He had to have been in the middle of some kind of hallucination that, tomorrow, would just be a blackout. Why? Because zombies weren't real, that's why. Zombies were in movies, books, and video games. They were not on the streets of his little town.

But, then again, why couldn't they be? Port Charles had everything else. It had blood feuds, royalty, mobsters, and the occasional serial killer. Why not zombies? That was next in line, anyway, right? Yup, and when this was over, Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees were going to show up, too.

"Alexis…" Jax gulped and quickly hid the crack in his façade. "My wife, your brother, and Elizabeth Webber are currently trapped in an empty patient room at General Hospital."

Jason- That snapped AJ out of it, and snapped him right into something else. It snapped him right into stupid. "I have to get—"

"You have to get nothing," Jax said, cutting him off. "What do you think you're going to do, AJ? You're going to wade into a mass of zombies to get them out?"

"You're telling me that you weren't thinking the same thing when Alexis told you?"

A slow grin crept across Jax's face, one that kind of scared AJ. There was no humor in it, just something dark, and something that Jax was directing at himself. "Actually, the moment she said zombies, I thought she had been poisoned by Nikolas's evil grandmother. Then I saw the news, and realized she wasn't crazy, and then yes, I wanted to run straight out there."

"Why didn't you?"

"Because Elizabeth has already called Lucky, and an armed policeman with a force to back him up is much better than a corporate raider whose only experience with guns is hunting elephants."

"Elephants?" AJ rose a questioning eyebrow and Jax only shrugged. He really shouldn't have been surprised anymore about the things that Jax had done in his life. He shook his head. "So, what are we supposed to do?"

"We're supposed to meet them at Wyndemere. It's isolated and, should we need it, more easily defendable."

AJ turned his eyes from Jax to the television screen. The camera was now on the ground and, from the side view, AJ could see something that looked a lot like someone he once knew biting chunks of flesh from the reporter's cheek. Bile rose in his throat and AJ forced it back down. He waved his hand at the television. "Turn it off."

The set went off so quickly that AJ knew Jax was just looking for an excuse to turn it off. Alone, he might have just been in too much shock to turn it off. With someone else in the room, he waited for the other person to show the weakness, but nonetheless, Jax was glad to have it off.

When he was sure that words and not vomit would come out of his mouth, AJ said, "I have to get to my Grandmother. I—" He stopped as his cell phone started to ring. AJ snatched it from his belt and felt relief when he saw the number. He accepted the call and put the phone to his ear. "Em, please tell me you're still at Wyndemere."

"Oh my God! Are you okay? I've been calling everybody! I saw the news and… I can't believe it! I mean, Nikolas had already felt like something was wrong today, and after that explosion I was freaking out, but now I'm freaking out even more! Zombies! For real zombies, AJ!"

"Em, Em, calm down." Talking to Emily, he didn't want a drink, not that moment. He only thought of calming her down, bringing her to a sane level, or at least one that wouldn't have her blow a vessel. "Take in a deep breath," he told her. "In and out," he said, listening as she followed his instructions. It felt good to be the one helping, instead of the one that needed help.

When she was calm, he asked, "Have you talked to Mom and Dad?"

There was rustling on her end, but no words, which led AJ to believe that she was shaking her head. Then, realizing probably that he couldn't see it, she said, "No, but I talked to Reginald. He said when it came over the news, they barricaded themselves upstairs in the attic. Grandmother…" Emily swallowed and AJ felt his chest clinch. _No, not Grandmother._

"They told her it was a terrorist thing. They didn't want to freak her out, but she's not doing good. She's been weak lately, anyway, and the stress… AJ, I want everyone here, where it's a whole lot safer, but I don't think that we can move her safely."

AJ was thinking, _She would just slow us down_, but he didn't say it out loud. "If they're upstairs," he said, "then they should be safe. At least until we can figure out a way to get them to Spoon Island."

"Have you—" Emily was tentative as she spoke. "Have you heard from anyone else? I tried to call Jason, but I didn't get an answer. Nikolas sent Sam to round everyone up, but she hasn't reported back and Jason's not answering his phone."

"It's okay," AJ told her. He gave her the information that he had gotten from Jax. Three people Emily cared about were locked with the zombies, but she had to feel better knowing that Lucky, and probably Sam, were there to get them. AJ wondered if it was weird that he felt better with the idea that Sam was on her way to get his brother than he did that Lucky Spencer was out there, too. He almost laughed. A Spencer and a Cassadine working together. It was no more bizarre than zombies, he supposed.

"Em, I've gotta go. I'm bringing Jax with me."

"Oh! Tell him that Kristina is here with us, and she's safe. The nanny brought her by right after the explosion. She's with Spencer and she's safe, alright?"

"I will. Just sit tight, Em. We're coming."

AJ hung up the phone before she could freak out again. He hated to think it, but if she kept going on, he was never going to get out of there. He quickly brought Jax up to date about Sam and Kristina, then turned to the darkened television. What had happened? He'd have liked some kind of real information, something that would make it all make sense. A cause would bring sense to the matter, if only because it would further root the situation in reality.

"We have to get out of here." AJ moved to the window and looked down. It didn't look like the shit that had hit the fan had made it to their side of town, yet. "If we leave right now, we might make it before it spreads this far."

"How did it spread so quickly?"

"I have no idea," AJ said. "Maybe there will be answers by the time we make it to Spoon Island."

Jax stood up and as AJ turned toward him, he was already straightening his tie, pulling any wrinkles out of his jacket. "Let's go. Kristina has to be afraid, and she'll be much better when she has one of her parents there."

"You're not worried about Alexis?"

"I can't afford to worry about Alexis right now. I have to put my faith in Sam and Lucky. Kristina needs me right now, and until I come up with some kind of plan to get us even further away, there's not much else I can do."

"You're already thinking of something, aren't you?"

There was that grin again. It was a reminder that while the businessman's businesses were all clean, there was still a hint of danger and not-quite-right about them. "I'm always thinking of this plan."

"And where does the plan start?" AJ asked. "Have you gotten that far?"

"It starts," Jax told him, "by getting us all together and out of Port Charles before the government comes in and locks us inside the perimeter. How we're going to do that? I'll tell you when I figure it out."


	10. Chapter 10

"What's wrong with my mother?" was Sam's first question. They were safe for a few minutes, and if they had any supplies other than medical ones, Sam would have been tempted to hang a sheet out a window and wait for help. She had looked out that window, though, and the zombies were no longer just inside the hospital. There was no telling how long it was going to take authorities to get to finding survivors.

Sam did take a minute, though, to assess everyone in the room, and the only one that didn't seem alright was her mother. Alexis was sitting on the bed, whispering to herself. She looked at Jason and asked again, "What's wrong with my mother?"

"Our best guess is shock," Jason told her, his voice soft. It was his comforting voice, the one that said he'd have had a great bedside manner if he had actually gone on to become a doctor. "She was fine, at first. She called Jax, and she was oddly calm when she talked to him. It was like she was in court, laying down the facts. She hung up the phone, and she started doing that."

"I heard her a little in the beginning," Elizabeth said. "I think she's trying to talk herself out of there being, um…" Her voice trailed off. Sam could understand. It was pretty hard to accept that there were zombies out there. Sam hadn't even believed it until she had to kill a few. "She's trying to figure out how this could logically be happening."

"And, if it's not logical, then it's not happening." Sam groaned. "Great. My mother's turning into a Vulcan." Disbelieving eyes turned on her. "What? I dated a Trekkie once." She shrugged, and turned back to her mother.

"We don't have time for this, Sam," Lucky told her. "We have to get everyone out of here."

"I know, I know." She ran her free hand through her hair. Her other hand still held a tight, but somewhat sweaty grip on her gun. "I'm supposed to be taking everyone to Spoon Island. When the explosion first happened, I figured Nikolas was just appeasing his wife. Now…" She sighed. "It's the safest place we can be."

Sam looked at each of the others. Lucky was at the door, his hand on the knob. He held his hand out and Elizabeth took it. They were ready to get out of there. Jason looked at her and he looked… relieved. Probably because of Spoon Island being safe. His sister was there, the aforementioned appeased wife. He had a lot more people to be worried about than Sam did. She figured that Emily had called AJ, and he was with Jax all the time, so Jax was alright. Stefan didn't need anyone worrying about him and when Sam did, she felt like she should be ashamed, that she was underestimating him. Nikolas and family were already on Spoon Island. That only left Kristina and Alexis.

Sam took in a deep breath and approached her mother. She knelt down in front of Alexis and put her hands on her knees. Sometimes, Sam didn't know how to treat the relationship she had with her mother. Sometimes, it was hard for her to even think of Alexis as her mother. Now, though, it wasn't nearly as hard as it had been.

"Mom?" Alexis's lips were moving, but she was whispering so softly, barely even speaking, Sam couldn't hear her. "Mom." Her eyes lifted. Her lips kept moving, but she was at least looking at her. "Where's Krissy?"

Alexis blinked. "Kristina… She's at Wyndemere. She's playing with Spencer."

Sam exhaled her relief. Now, she only had one person to worry about. "We have to get out of here, Mom. It's not safe."

"It's perfectly safe."

"Okay," Sam said slowly, "it may be safe, but it's not practical. We don't have food and the only water is from the bathroom. Besides, Nikolas wants us all on Spoon Island where it's safe. There aren't any zombies there."

"There are no zombies here, either," Alexis told her. Her voice was steady. "There are some very sick people, and when this is all over, I am prosecuting Sonny Corinthos as a menace to society. He has made all of these people—"

"They're zombies, Mom," Sam said, cutting her off. Emily would have been better at this. She was a calm person, and more than that, she was a patient person. Sam looked behind her. Elizabeth was patient. She was a nurse. They didn't have time for patient people, though. They needed to get the hell out of there before the zombies were so thick in the streets that they didn't have a way out.

"There's no such thing as zombies, Sam."

Sam took in a deep breath and let it out slowly as she turned her attention back to her mother. "I just shot Ephiphany in the head while she was eating on a patient, Mom. Then, Lucky and I shot our way to you. You wanna tell me now that there's no thing as zombies?"

Alexis's mouth opened, closed. Her eyes were wide, and the tears threatened to fall out of them. She wasn't equipped for this sort of thing. Give her a court room and a hostile witness, and Alexis Davis-Jacks would show who was in control. Give her a psychotic Cassadine and she would stand up and face it. Those things she was prepared for. Those things she understood. Zombies… Sam felt bad for her. Sam had pretty much prepared herself for anything. She didn't count anything out. She would have probably lost her shit, too, if she actually put labels on things, the possible and the impossible.

Sam took her mother's hands and stood up, pulling Alexis with her. Alexis looked down at her when they were both standing. "Zombies aren't supposed to be real, Sam."

"I know," she said softly. "But, they are, so we have to deal. Right now, we deal by getting out of here, and getting to safety. Everyone is waiting for us."

Alexis closed her eyes, took in a deep breath. "Stefan would know what to do," she said. Her eyes opened. "But, Stefan isn't here."

"No, he's not here. Neither is Nikolas. I'm here, though, and we have to get out of here."

Alexis put a hand to Sam's cheek. A smile spread slowly across her face. Sam thought, Shit, she's losing the last of her shit. Sam put her hand up, covered Alexis's hand. She was ready to pull her hand away when Alexis said, "You're here. I'm glad you're here."

Sam opened her mouth to speak, but didn't know what she was supposed to say. She was pretty sure that Alexis wasn 't just talking about that moment. They had been growing closer, Sam and Alexis, but neither had really said anything definitive, whether it was a good thing or not, Sam being in town. Maybe Alexis was just talking about the moment and Sam was letting it mean more, but she was okay with it meaning more if that were the case. Her mother was glad that she was there.

"I am, too," Sam said. "And I'll be even more glad when none of us are here, as in here in this room." Sam lowered Alexis's hand, then took her by the wrist. She turned and was glad when, as she walked to the door, Alexis came with her.

Sam stopped and looked at Jason. "I'm putting my mother in your hands, Jason." Sam swallowed hard. "I'm trusting that you're going to get her where we're going safely."

"Sam, I…"

She put up her hand and he went quiet. "We can talk about feelings and what this means later. Right now, I just need you to make sure she stays in her right mind while we get to the launch." Before Jason could say something mushy, Sam looked at Lucky. "Spencer, we've got a problem."

She expected Lucky to ask what the problem was, but instead, he nodded. "We're going to run out of ammo before we get to the launch." Having an armed cop around was kind of useful. He was used to prioritizing, and while he had to be worried about his wife and about his son, he knew what was more important at the moment. "We're going to have to stop at the station. That's the closest thing between here and the docks."

Sam nodded. She started to speak when Alexis said, "What about Cameron?" That was good. She was thinking. She was in the moment and her mind was still there. "Kristina is already at Wyndemere, but we have to get Cameron."

"He's okay," Lucky told her. Elizabeth didn't react, which told Sam that, while she was busy with her mother, Lucky had been talking to his wife. "The babysitter already knows that's where she's to take Cameron if something happens. She called the babysitter after calling me to check up on him. We just have to worry about the five of us."

The five of us, Sam thought. They were plenty to worry about. She couldn't imagine trying to deal with more people, especially if those more were children. She didn't have time for an adult to freak out. She had less time for a child, who might scream and cry when they needed to be quiet.

"We're good, then." Sam looked at Lucky. "We're arming everybody," she said. She looked at Elizabeth and Alexis, the two she was pretty sure weren't used to gun handling. "You just point and shoot. It's simple." She looked at Jason. "You just need to remember everything I showed you. And aim for the head," she added. "I don't know if it's like in the movies or not, but when we shot them in the head, they went down and they stayed down."

"It's quiet out there," Lucky said.

"It should be. We killed enough of them," Sam said. "Besides, I think they're finally figuring out how to get out of here. They're all in the streets, now."

"That, too…" Lucky sighed. "Those can't all be from the hospital. It's not just here. It couldn't have started here, not the whole thing."

"Doesn't really matter, though," Sam told him. "We have to get out there before we're stuck in here. So, we hit the station, and then we keep going until we get to the docks." Sam popped the clip in her gun and checked. It wasn't good. She only had a few more shots left in that clip, and she was down to one more clip in her pocket. "We have to get there fast."

Lucky checked his own clip and shook his head. "I've got two more in my pocket, then I'm out." He slapped the clip back into the butt of his gun. He put his hand back on the doorknob . "Stay close," he said. "I'll take the front."

"I'll bring up the rear." Sam and Lucky shared a look, and then she steeled herself as he opened the door. Lucky jerked open the door and jerked his gun up. There was nothing in front of them to shoot. It was clear.

Lucky started out the door slowly, Elizabeth behind him. She couldn't hold his hand now, but she held on to his jacket. Jason held Alexis's hand and moved forward, edging out the door. Sam wanted to remind him one last time, she was putting her mother in his hands. That wouldn't do any good, though. He'd either feel like Sam thought she didn't really trust him as much as it would seem, or he'd be pissed that she felt the need to keep reminding him.

Sam didn't say anything. She just followed the procession out the door, reminding herself to call Nikolas from the station, to give him an update and make sure the launch was waiting. She would be damned if she did all this just to end up at the docks without a boat waiting for her. That would just be the cap on a really shitty day, and really, could this day get any worse?


	11. Chapter 11

"Robin, are you crazy!" Maxie Jones burst into Robin's lab, followed quickly by her sister, Georgie. Georgie closed the door behind him. Robin looked up at the two girls confused, and then even more confused as Maxie turned to Georgie and said, "I told you she'd be in here!"

Georgie groaned. "And how often are you right?" She peeked out the door's window.

"I'm right often enough," Maxie said with a huff. She folded her arms, then set her eyes on Robin. "You're nuts, you know that? And by caring about you, you make us nuts! Everybody else is trying to get out of the hospital, and here we are, finding a way in."

"Um, Maxie?" Robin sat back from the microscope. She settled for a second on her stool, then pushed away. The wheels squeaked, and she made a mental note to have maintenance oil them. "What are you doing here?"

"What are—" Maxie shook her head. Her arms shot up and out, then fell in exasperation. "Do you have any idea what's going on?"

"Has the fire spread?" Robin asked her. "I thought they had it under control."

"The fire, she says." Maxie looked at her sister. "She's worried about the fire, as if the fire is anybody's problem." She looked back at Robin. "Hello! I'm talking about the zombies!"

Okay, well… Obviously, Maxie was into something, and this must have been why Georgie brought her to the hospital. Robin knew that Maxie had a tendency to go overboard, and she was easily excitable, but this was a massive hallucination. Either she had a medical problem or someone had started her on drugs. Maxie would never have agreed to come see a doctor, but if Georgie played into her delusion…

Robin stood up slowly and walked to the door, where Georgie was still looking out the window, watching the halls. She must have really been worried about her sister, because Georgie was playing into this delusion like a professional actress. Robin wondered when Georgie had ever had acting aspirations.

Robin stood close to Georgie and spoke in a voice low enough that Maxie couldn't hear her words. "How long has she been like this?"

Georgie's head snapped her way, her eyes wide. "What?" She shook her head. "What are you talking about?"

Robin sighed and lowered her voice a little more. "If you talk really softly, we can talk about this without her knowing what we're saying. How long has she been acting like this?"

"Um, since the zombies showed up?"

Robin's brow furrowed. "Georgie…" She really seemed to believe this same delusion. Maybe Maxie wasn't on drugs. Maybe there was something in the water supply, or worse, something had gotten into the air after the fire. There was definitely something strange going on with Sonny's blood, and whatever caused it could have gotten into the air. Robin wondered if the entire town was having the same delusion.

"Georgie," Robin said slowly, "there's no such thing as zombies, you know that, right?"

"Uh huh. No such thing." Georgie snorted. "You know, I'm a girl with common sense. I'm a rational girl. I know the difference between fiction and reality. I'm telling you, Robin, there are zombies out there."

"Zombies don't exist," Robin said, her voice louder now. If she wasn't talking about Maxie and drugs, there was no reason to lower her voice. She needed to convince both of them that everything was fine, and then she needed to call Uncle Mac. He would know what to do—Unless he'd been infected, too.

A town full of people afraid of zombies- The idea made Robin shudder, sent a wave of terror down her spine. Maybe some of the infected people even believed they were zombies, which would make things even worse. She imagined how the scenario would play out. Someone convinced they were a zombie would bite someone else. That person would go on and attack others. People would shoot each other in the streets, and when it was all over, when they were well again… The denizens of Port Charles had come back from a lot over the years. They had survived Mikos Cassadine and the Ice Princess. They had survived serial killers and mob wars. Knowing that they had killed their neighbors, though, was not something Robin thought Port Charles could recover from. Before, they always had someone else to blame the bodies on. This time, the bodies would be no one's fault but their own. Sure, they could blame Sonny, who would probably be dead by then, but in the end, the blood was on the town's hands.

"We have to do something, right now," Robin said. She took Georgie by the arms, tried to pull her away from the door. Georgie fought, but Robin was able to put her next to her sister. She looked at both of them and said, "I need to take blood samples from both of you. I need to figure out what has infected you, so I can fix you. Once I fix you, I can fix everyone else."

"Fix us?" Georgie looked at Maxie. "What is she talking about? We're not zombies."

Maxie looked back and forth between Georgie and Robin and started to laugh. Her eyes settled on Georgie. "This is great! She thinks we're crazy! She's trying to fix our crazy!" Maxie rummaged in her designer bag for her iPhone and started tapping the touch screen until she found what she was looking for. "We're not crazy, Robin." Maxie thrust the phone into her face and said, "Look at that!"

Robin took the phone and watched the news scene with horror, not because of zombies, but because of the panic in the streets. For the moment, there was no reporter talking, only a camera showing the people of Port Charles running and killing each other in the streets. It was just as Robin had thought. She was going to have to do something, and fast. Robin strained her eyes to see details, to find something to prove that these people weren't zombies, they were just sick people who needed medical attention.

It was when she was looking for this proof that Robin was struck with an all new horror. This wasn't the local news. This was… Holy shit! A lot had happened in Port Charles to get attention over the years, but CNN had never been interested! Local news, Robin thought it had to be before seeing the CNN logo. Local news put out by people who had already been infected with whatever hallucinogen had been released into the air. But, CNN…

"They've already put up the barricades," Georgie told her. Robin could tell that Georgie was trying to stay calm, trying to hold onto her wits. Georgie's voice wavered, her body held a slight trimmer, and she kept looking around Robin to try to look out the small window in the door. "The National Guard is out there, keeping us in. They're trying to keep it locked up in here."

That made sense, as much as any of this could make sense. The first thing to do in any kind of medical crisis was to quarantine the sick. That meant quarantining everyone, because other than what people knew from movies and books, no one really knew how a zombie infection would spread.

A zombie infection…

Robin looked up at her cousins, then back at the screen. She never thought something like this could happen. Sure, there were people out there planning for the so-called Zombie Apocalypse, but Robin had always thought those were people who lived too far in the land of fiction. Life was too hard for them, so they fell into fiction to escape. Now, she wished she had taken one of those people more seriously.

Robin shook her head. She didn't need to take them seriously. Their plans were usually about how to kill the zombies, how to survive, how to get away. Robin's plan was going to be about saving them. There was nothing she could do for the people already dead, but maybe she could come up with some way to save the rest of them. An innoculation was necessary, but before they could innoculate, they needed something to do it with. That meant finding a starting point. That meant…

Robin tossed the phone back at Maxie and ran for her desk. She didn't hear it clatter against the floor and she heard no scream, so she assumed Maxie caught it. Robin sat on her stool and scooted it back up to the microscope. She peered down at the cells before her. This was what she had to focus on. The answer was right there, in Sonny's blood.

"Robin? What the hell are you doing?" Maxie's voice didn't hold the same fear and nervousness that Georgie's had held. Maxie was frustrated and angry. "We have to get out of here!"

"Call Uncle Mac," Robin told her. "See if he kind get a force together to come and get you. I'm staying right here."

"Robin?" Georgie this time. "Robin, what are you talking about?"

"I've been sitting here trying to figure out what it is, but what I need to do is figure out how to stop it. How to kill the virus altogether."

"Yeah, we know how to do that," Maxie said. "A shot to the head or fire seems to do it pretty damn well."

"I'm not talking about how to kill… them." She wasn't going to call them zombies. They were all still her friends and neighbors. They were people she had grown up with and people she loved. They were not just zombies to be killed. "I'm talking about saving the rest of us from it, and maybe even turning some of them back."

"They've been eating people, Robin! They don't want to be turned back!"

"Then I have to at least stop more of us from turning!" Robin spun around and stared at them. She was ready to scream, to lecture, but the fear wasn't just on Georgie. It was starting to seep into Maxie's eyes, too. There were zombies out there, and all they had done was try to save her from them. Well, Robin was going to save them, instead.

Robin took in a deep breath, let it out slowly. "How long has it been going on?"

Maxie's mouth opened, but Georgie answered first. "Maybe a couple of hours? I don't even understand how you could have been here and not known what was going on."

Robin shrugged. "I guess I just kind of zoned out. I haven't been upstairs in hours. That must mean that it's safe down here."

Maxie grunted. "Yeah," she said, "until the zombies figure out how to get in here."

"Then, we'll just barricade ourselves in." Robin stood up and looked around the room. "We'll push the heaviest stuff against the door and cover the window in the door so no one will see the lights if they come down here."

"But, what if help comes?" Georgie asked.

"Was there anyone in the hospital when you got here?" Both girls shook their heads no. "Then, I don't think anyone will be coming in here until we let them know we're down here and we're safe." Robin took a deep breath, let it out slowly. "Right now, this is the safest place we can be. It's better than running around in the streets waiting to be killed."

Georgie looked to Maxie and said, "She kind of has a point."

"I definitely have a point," Robin told her. "So, for now, we're just going to stay put. We'll block the door, and you try to get Uncle Mac on the phone while I work on some way to save us."

"Robin…"

"It's okay, Georgie," she said. "We're going to be okay. We all have to believe that. We'll make it through this, and then…"

Robin paused. And then? She didn't really know. Even if she managed to save what was left of the town, if they could get it under control without destroying the entire town, what then? Robin shook her head. She was going to focus on one thing at a time. First, she'd deal with the infection. She would save the rest for later, and there was a hell of a lot of "the rest" that she would have to focus on, starting with finally admitting to herself that Sonny did have something to do with this, and he wasn't just an innocent victim.

"Robin?"

She blinked and looked up at Georgie. "And then," Robin said, "we'll do what Port Charles always does. We'll get back on our feet, and Luke will serve us all a drink."


	12. Chapter 12

The road to the station was filled with zombies, dead bodies, and debris that used to be cars, windows, and pieces that made up buildings, and Lucky knew almost every person, had been in nearly every building, and had given parking tickets to quite a few of the cars. Every time he turned his head he saw someone that he had gone to school with, or that he had passed at Kelly's. He thanked God that Aunt Ruby had already passed and wasn't there to see this, not because it would shock her, but because he knew his aunt. Ruby would have been out in the streets with a shotgun, defending her town, and that would have been one more person to worry about.

Lucky forced himself to look at them all as strangers, to forget the memories he had of them, and that worked for a while. It worked until they arrived at the police station. With Elizabeth holding tightly to his arm, it was hard to forget the desk sergeant that had been at their wedding and, when Luke had gotten the guy thoroughly drunk, had decided to go around and kiss every woman in the place, yelling that he was passing along the Luck of the Irish to the women of Port Charles. It was hard to forget the other detectives and officers whose children Cameron had played with at department parties and picnics.

These were bodies that Lucky couldn't avoid, and he forced himself to pick through each one, putting the name to what was left of the face of each and every man still in the precinct. He also had to think about the ones that weren't there, hoping they were alive but remembering that they could be part of the walking dead. Mac Scorpio wasn't there. Lucky had to believe that the commissioner was still out there somewhere, and that he wasn't out there eating the people he had sworn to protect.

The others had given him space and silence while Lucky went through the each set of bodies that they came upon, and he was grateful for that. Even Elizabeth had stepped away. This wasn't something that he shared with any of them. This was his place, and these were his people. Lucky would have given Elizabeth the same space if she'd had to go through the bodies at the hospital. Thankfully, Elizabeth hadn't felt the need, and they really hadn't had the time.

Did they have the time, now? Probably not, but Lucky felt compelled to do this, as though this was something that his fellow boys and blue deserved. Lucky figured that when the military came in and dealt with the situation, they would burn all the bodies, and some of them might not have been remembered; the ones without family to remember them by would need someone. Lucky was going to be that someone while he still could.

"Okay," Lucky said, finally pushing himself away from the last body, "we've got to get moving." He led them to what passed for the PCPD armory. The weapons were cached in a large room behind a big, heavy steel door. He pulled the door open and said, "The selection is okay, but remember, we're not NYPD. This is Port Charles, and we rarely need, or have the budget, for the big stuff."

Lucky let the others walk in before him. Something about the room worried him, and he stood back trying to think of what was the problem. Elizabeth and Alexis were tentative to take up the unfamiliar weapons. They opted for handguns, semi-automatics that could be easily loaded and easily fired. Sam seemed in the mind of the bigger, the better, multi-shot weapons and bands of ammunition that she wrapped around her body. Lucky almost smiled. She was going to love it when he took her to the evidence room. There were all kinds of things down there that they had seized over the years, including a very nice assault rifle, full automatic. Jason was in the middle. He went for power, but he wasn't as zealous as Sam. He took his share.

Lucky was the last to pick through the weapons. He went for ease, but also power. He filled his pockets with ammunition for his sidearm and also grabbed a few police issue, SWAT-type assault rifles. He didn't load himself down, knowing they still had one more stop. When he was loaded, he said, "One more place," then led them to evidence.

There were more bodies in the evidence locker, and leading to it, and that was what told him why he had been wary at the weapons room. There were too many weapons in there for a partially staffed police station. Even with the number that had to be on the street because of the explosion, there were still plenty of cops holding down the fort. All those cops, and none of them had made it to the weapons. Some, however, had tried to make it to the evidence room, knowing that that was where they kept the big guns. A few of them had actually gotten weapons, because among the murdered and eaten, there were also the bodies of zombies that had followed them down. Maybe some of them had even gotten out. Lucky hoped that Mac was one of them, that if he had been back at the station when the zombies attacked, he was the one that had taken the AK-47 that Lucky had been hoping for and had plowed his way out of there.

"Load up," Lucky said, stepping over bodies. Even as he moved, though, he catalogued identities, people whose families he would talk to if he could find them, if they were left, when this was all over, so he could tell them that their loved when didn't go down without a fight. He also kept in mind the ones who had no one to tell, so Lucky could make sure they were remembered.

They were somber as they all selected a few more weapons, got a little bit more ammunition. They took as much as they could possibly take and still be able to move quickly. They were loaded for zombie, and they would do the best they could, but…

Lucky had to wonder how far they would get. Alexis wasn't muttering to herself anymore, no longer trying to convince herself that the zombies weren't real, but she still moved with a semi-shocked gait. Elizabeth was starting to be affected by all of the bodies, too. At one point, he'd had to pull her away, telling her that she couldn't help them. She wanted to stop and nurse them all, but they had found no one in the streets that she could really help. The only help for most of them was a bullet to the head, which he and Sam had given them in the last seconds before their eyes closed then reopened.

Jason was impressive. He wasn't used to guns, but he was used to seeing trauma. It was like he went into EMT mode. He took in the bodies, he triaged them in the head, and he moved on from the ones that he knew couldn't be saved. He didn't give the coup de gras, but he knew that it was coming. His eyes would meet Sam's or Lucky's, and he would herd Elizabeth and Alexis forward so they wouldn't have to see it. There was no hiding the sound of the gunshot, but at least they didn't have to watch.

It was Jason that led them out of the room this time, momentarily taking point. Sam lingered back, waiting until she was beside Lucky to slow her gait, causing Lucky to slow down with her. She wanted to talk out of range of the others.

"What are we going to do when we get to the launch?"

Lucky's brow furrowed as he tossed Sam a quick glance. He stepped over a body and set his eyes back on the front. "What do you mean, what are we going to do?"

"I mean…" Sam sighed. "I'm looking at all of this, and I can't just… I don't know. It seems kind of cowardly to just go hide out on Spoon Island until it's all over."

Lucky took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. He knew what she was saying, and he'd thought about it himself. He was a police detective. He had taken an oath to protect the people of Port Charles. If every they needed protecting, now was that time, and it did seem like the coward move to go and hide out on his brother's island until the danger was passed.

"There have to be more survivors," Sam said. "Yeah, we've seen a lot of bodies, but we haven't seen nearly the entirety of Port Charles. There are people out there, Lucky. We can't just leave them to die."

"What about your mom? What about Elizabeth?"

"Jason will take them to Spoon Island. He'll make sure that they're safe and sound. We don't have to worry about them."

Lucky did worry, though, because he was what Elizabeth and Cameron had. If he died… He almost laughed. This was the first time he'd really thought of the possibility that he could die in this zombie mess. He couldn't start thinking that way now. Envisioning himself alive and well when it was over had kept him alive so far, and it would in the future.

Sam was right, though. They couldn't just go back and hide. He couldn't just go back and hide. "And you don't think Jason will follow us?"

"He might want to, but he knows this isn't his thing. He saves lives."

"We could probably use him, if we find survivors."

"I thought about that, but there's no way that Mom and Elizabeth will go to Wyndemere on their own. If we go with them, there's no way that any of our people there will let us leave again. By the time we were able to sneak out, more people would be dead."

Lucky was quiet for a moment, pensive, then he said, "You don't want him to get hurt. You want Jason safe on the island same as I want Elizabeth there."

This time Sam was quiet. They were back outside on the steps of the station before Sam spoke again. "Yeah, I want him safe, but it still makes sense. The time it takes for the launch to get to Spoon Island, then come back… It's too much time for us to wait. Jason's not going to like it, but he's going to go. He's going to do what I ask."

"How do you know that? Why should he just go if he wants to stay and help us?"

"The same reason that Elizabeth will go, and the same reason my mother will go."

With that, Sam walked away from him. She jogged down the steps and took the point from Jason, holding her weapon at the ready, her eyes scanning for danger. Lucky took in a deep breath, let it out slowly, then followed, bringing up the rear. Jason would stay out at Wyndemere because he loved Sam. And Lucky, though he loved his wife and he loved his son, would stay in town with Sam to rescue any survivors because he loved his town. And, he had to admit, it would be one hell of a story to tell his old man when he finally made it back to town.

It was strange, Lucky normally held a little resentment when Luke left town on his adventures, mainly because he went alone and only called Lucky if he couldn't get out on his own. He was even more resentful this time, because he'd left Lucky, but for some reason, had taken Lucky's sister, Lulu with him. Now, though, Lucky was glad they were gone, because it meant both of them were safe. And, Lucky was glad he had been left behind, because it meant that he was there to do his duty.

Lucky Spencer, PCPD homicide detective was on the case.


	13. Chapter 13

"You're serious?" Jason looked behind him to the two women waiting on the boat. They weren't looking at them. They were looking across the water, watching the lights on Spoon Island. They were waiting to move because safety beckoned them. Jason turned back to Sam. "You really think I'm going to just let you go out there and get yourself killed."

"No," Sam said, her voice even and far more calm than Jason liked. "I think you're going to let me go and kick some zombie ass and be some kind of hero."

"Not happening."

"Jason…"

"Stop." He put a hand up. "Look," he said, "I know you can take care of yourself. I get that. But…" He groaned. Jason didn't like this idea at all. "You can't expect me to just sit there, waiting to know if you made it back alive while you play Resident Evil."

Sam smirked. "I do make a pretty kickass Alice," she said with a wink. When Jason didn't smile, Sam's own smile faded. "I have to do this, Jason. I just… it feels wrong to go back there and wait to be rescued."

"And you think I don't feel the same way? I'm a paramedic, Sam. My job is to go out there and save people. You think it's easy for me to go back there and wait it out?"

"No," she said, "I don't think it's easy, but you'll do it." Sam took in a deep breath, let it out slowly. "They need your help just as much as you think I need it."

Jason hated this whole thing. He hated that he felt so much for Sam that he wanted to go out and defend her against the zombie hoarde, even though he was well aware that she was better equipped to handle it than he was. He hated that she'd be doing it with Lucky Spencer, who was also better equipped than Jason to handle it. He hated that he had to go to Wyndemere and return to his old role as peacekeeper. He was tired of calming the fights. He was tired of the fights, period, and he was on his way into a den of Cassadines and their extended families. There would be fights.

"Sam…"

"Just go, Jason," she told him. "Please, go and take care of them."

"This sucks," Jason told her. "I hope you know that."

"I know."

"You owe me," he said. "You owe me for going in there with your family."

"My family," Sam said with a groan. Her head jerked slightly and her eyes widened with memory. "Oh! So, yeah, you need to make sure my uncle and Jax don't get into it. Stefan thinks Jax is cheating on Alexis, which I'm pretty sure isn't true, but if they're all cooped up together, he'll bring it up. Try to keep them separated."

Yup. Jason was on his way back to being what he had always been, except this time, it was for someone else's family. Why was he always the only one with any sanity in the place? At least Emily would be there. She could help, maybe, if she wasn't freaking out about the zombies.

This whole thing was just messed up. Jason should have been out there with Sam, patching up the wounded as Sam and Lucky stood guard. Jason knew his part, knew why he would have been there. He didn't want to go out there just to play hero or pretend that he was in some first-person shooter game. Jason could handle a gun if he had to, but it didn't feel like it belonged in his hand. He wouldn't get in the way.

"I wish I could hate you for this, Sam."

She sighed. "So do I."

Neither of them had gotten into this whole thing for anything spectacular. Until recently, Jason would have been hesitant to even call it a relationship. If he didn't care about her, if he didn't damn near love the woman, he'd have told her that he didn't care, he was going anyway. But, he did damn near love her, and because he did, he would go and get her mother to safety, and he would keep her family from killing each other.

"Jason, you have to go, and we—"

Sam's words cut off as Jason quickly put an arm around her waist and jerked her close. She gave a small squeak, then moaned as Jason kissed her hard. At least if the worst happened while she was out there, he would be able to say that he kissed her with everything that he was too nervous to actually say to her. He kissed her so hard that he could feel her teeth pressed against their lips and when he took in a quick breath, still kissing, he felt his breath slip into her mouth. And when he released her, she was breathless.

Jason let her go and didn't say anything else as he boarded the boat and told the driver to go. He ignored Elizabeth and Alexis, just for a moment, to watch Sam and Lucky standing on the docks. They both watched them speed away, and while Jason could tell they were talking, he had no way of knowing what they were saying. He waited until they turned, their weapons up and ready, to turn to the angry women with him speeding across the river.

Jason put up both his hands and they stopped talking. "Did either of you really think that they were going to just come back with us and hide?"

Alexis said, "Sam—" Then stopped when she realized that Jason was right. Elizabeth didn't even make it to saying a word before she realized it. They both knew, deep down, that even if Sam and Lucky had gone to Spoon Island with them, they wouldn't have stayed there. Hell, Jason hadn't even expected that to happen. He had just figured that when they left, he would be going with them.

The three of them finished the ride in silence. Only when the boat pulled up at Spoon Island and the engine was cut did Alexis say, "Stefan is not going to like this."

"Stefan doesn't like anything," Jason grunted.

"That's true." Alexis sighed. "All the way across, I kept thinking that if I'd raised her, she would be on this boat with us. If I had kept her, she would feel close enough to us that she would stay with us. That she would be here with us."

"You know that's not true," Elizabeth told her. They were still in the boat, and all of them could hear the people coming toward them, lots of raised voices. Jason was avoiding the onslaught for as long as he could, so he would just let Elizabeth and Alexis talk. "She loves you."

"I know. I just know we could be closer." Alexis grew silent and turned to look behind her. Her eyes stretched as far as they could across the river. "She didn't even say goodbye."

"Neither did Lucky," Elizabeth told her, "because they both knew that we would give them hell for leaving us. They're going to be fine." Elizabeth took Alexis's hand and squeezed it tight with both hands. Alexis turned back to her as she said, "Lucky and Sam are strong, and they wouldn't have gone out there if they didn't think they could make it back to us safely. They're going to be fine."

"But, how fine will we be?" Alexis's eyes were now on the people arriving to meet them, and Jason wondered just how much of her sentiment was about the zombies. He had a feeling that quite a bit referred to the people they were stuck out on this island with in relative safety.

Thinking, _This is going to suck_, Jason helped Elizabeth and Alexis off the boat. By the time his own feet were on dry land, he was surrounded by Cassadines, Quartermaines, and a Jacks. He remembered what Sam said about Stefan. So far, he didn't seem to be focused on Jax, but if they stayed cooped up long enough, that could change.

They were all talking at the same time, and Jason stood in the middle of them wishing they would all just shut up. He had left home to get away from all of this. A familiar bickering reached his ears, and that's when Jason realized that AJ and Emily weren't the only Quartermaines in attendance. His next shout shut them all up. "What the hell are they doing here!"

That sounded harsh, even to his own ears. Jason couldn't believe he'd actually said that. He loved his family, he really did, but sometimes, he didn't like them very much. No wonder AJ looked like he needed a drink. How long had they been there? And—

"Where's Grandmother?" He'd been told that they were locked safely upstairs in the attic, that Grandmother was too sick to move. What were they doing there when the only one of them that didn't give him a raging headache wasn't there? And where was Grandfather, come to think of it. He only saw Monica, Alan, and Tracy.

"She's fine, Jas." AJ was the one that spoke. The others just looked shocked. Even Stefan seemed surprised, and it wasn't often that someone left him speechless. "She's in a bedroom, and Grandfather and Reginald are with her. We had to stop on our way here and get them."

That was when Jason realized that AJ not only looked exhausted, he was filthy, too. Jaosn looked at Jax, and he looked as beat up as AJ. The story unfolded quickly, AJ telling it. He and Jax had taken tunnels beneath the city that were thankfully zombie-free to get to the docks. Halfway there, in one of the spots where they had to go above ground, Emily had gotten a call through. The zombies were in the mansion, Cook had tried to defend them, and now she was dead. They wouldn't hold out long. AJ and Jax had gotten some guns off of dead bodies, and fought their way through the mass. Getting Grandmother to the island had been a chore, and they'd have never made it if it weren't for the tunnels, they'd have all died.

When he was done, Jason asked AJ, "Are you okay?"

AJ was silent for a moment. Jason knew that his brother was aware of what he was asking. He wasn't talking about the zombies. He had spent all that time with the family, and Jason was sure that, even though Jason had saved their lives, Grandfather had said something at least once.

AJ nodded. "I'm fine."

"Well, this is all very well and good," Stefan said, "but there is a more important question to be asked." Stefan's speechlessness only lasted for so long. "You have returned my sister safely to us, but where is my neice?" Nikolas grunted and Stefan added, "And Spencer." He didn't look like he cared very much.

Jason looked at the group. Jax was holding Alexis, his arm tight around her waist. Elizabeth stood beside Emily, the two of them with both hands wrapped around each others. Monica, Alan, and Tracy were a hand-holding train with Alan in the middle. Nikolas stood beside Emily, his arm around her shoulders and his fingers reaching across to rest on Elizabeth's shoulder. They all looked at him expectantly, though Nikolas and Jax both seemed to know what he was going to say.

Jason let out a heavy breath and said, "They stayed behind to help any other survivors." And then, the moment of calm and silence was over. They were all shouting again, and Jason wondered if he could make it back to the boat and have the driver take off before someone caught him.


	14. Chapter 14

Sam was glad that she hadn't gotten to know a lot of these people. It was hard enough pulling the trigger on Epiphany. She couldn't imagine her stomach clenching on every single one, a need to forcibly push back regret. For most of the zombies they encountered, Sam was able to avoid going through that. Lucky, on the other hand, wasn't saved the grief.

She had to give him credit, though. He hesitated only a second, not so long that they were any real danger of the zombie getting to them before he pulled the trigger. He had grown up with these people. Damn near everybody in town was like family to him. It must have sucked for him, but he pulled through.

The area of town they walked through now was strangely quiet, mostly intact. Most of the area didn't look like it had been touched at all. They hadn't found anyone alive, yet, but there had to be others out there. Someone else had to be alive.

"Do we go house to house?" They really hadn't come up with a plan. Sam had been half-expecting people to be hanging out of their windows, calling for help. No one made a sound. So far, they only noise came from the zombies, their gutteral screams and their screeches crawling out of slowly decaying throats, their lip-smacking and the sound of flesh torn from bodies. The screams of the dying before they were given a merciful bullet to the head.

Lucky stopped walking and Sam stopped beside him. He looked back and forth between the two sides of the street, then stared straight ahead. "House to house will take forever," he said.

"Yeah," Sam said with a groan. She kind of wanted to jump into some action. She had seen oddly little since they had left their families heading across to Spoon Island. There was more on the way to the docks than there were leaving. The fires around the docks seemed to keep them away, but Sam had to wonder where they all were now. Why weren't zombies roaming these quiet streets?

"I think the people in the houses are safe, at least for now." Lucky looked again from one side of the street to the other. "I think the zombies have…" Lucky paused, swallowed hard, then went on, "… gone to more populated areas."

Sam took in a deep breath that stank of smoke and tasted like death. She spat the breath back out, and almost expected her spit to sizzle the street at her feet, like acid. A glob of spit landed, though, and nothing happened. "You mean," she said, "they followed the food."

Lucky gulped and nodded. He had a point. Taking out the fact that zombies tended to do that in the movies, basic animal behavioral patterns would give the same answer. How did crazy cat ladies become realities? By letting stray cats know that this is where the food is. If zombies were acting on the basic animal instinct to survive, then they would be following the food. It just happened that living people were the food.

"So, where do we look?"

Lucky looked at her and sighed. The pained look in his eyes said that he had already been thinking about this, and he didn't like the idea of where they had to go. "Closest place right now is Kelly's." He stopped and looked at Sam. "My aunt, Ruby, owned it before she died, you know."

"Didn't know that."

"There are places all over town where you can get food, but everybody always ends up at Kelly's."

"And you think that's where a lot of people ran?"

Lucky shrugged. "I think that's where, at least, a decent sized group of people already were when the shit hit the fan. That's where I was leaving from when Elizabeth called me. There were at least a dozen people inside there when I left."

"So, we hit Kelly's and…" Sam let it dangle. Going out and kicking zombie ass seemed like a good idea at the time. She hadn't really thought it through, though. Yeah, they were going to try and get survivors, but exactly how were they going to get them back to the launch? Transporting unarmed people through a battle zone wasn't going to be easy, and they didn't have enough weapons to go around.

"There are tunnels under the diner," Lucky told her. He started walking forward and Sam moved with him. "Nobody really knows for sure who built them and why. The catacombs have just always been there. Dad likes to say that they were used for bootlegging in the twenties."

Sam gave a nod of acceptance. "I could buy that. Running booze from here to the city? I could see it."

Lucky smirked and gave Sam a wry smile. "Cassadines used 'em," he said with a grin. "If we make it out of this, you should ask my dad about the Ice Princess one day." Sam rose a skeptical eyebrow. Ice Princess? That sounded like something stupid that Luke could make up after enough drinks. "I guess you don't really know any Cassadines that would have all the details."

"I guess."

"Dad would be more than happy to fill you in on your family's history."

"I'm sure he would."

Both of them laughed, then the laughter petered off and they walked in silence. Eyes were trained on buildings, on nooks and crannies and alleys that zombies could come out of. The closer they grew to Kelly's, the worse the areas became. Now, they could see signs of the devestation. Cars were crashed in pile-ups of three or more in the middle of the street. Deserted houses bled out and buildings with smashed windows and cars driven into them took their places. Dead bodies littered the streets.

A zombie lumbered out of a broken glass door. It stumbled over the door's metal frame and fell on the ground. Sam's gun came up, and she saw Lucky's rising with her peripheral vision. The zombie rose to its feet. It didn't seem to see them at first. It sniffed the air for a while before its nose pointing it in their direction. It started to walk forward.

The zombie had obviously been a man at one point. Black hair blew in the wind just a little. The hair was cut short, not too close to the head, but close enough that the ends moved with the breeze. What was once a nice, tailored gray suit was now in tatters, ripped and torn, covered in blood and dirt. Black patent leather shoes were scuffed, and the heel on one was broken. Half of the guy's face was gone. Even at a distance, Sam could tell that it had been eaten away. An eyeball hung down onto a cheek torn open and ruined by human teeth.

Sam shuddered and shook off thoughts of the thing's previous humanity. She wouldn't think of them as "him" or "her." They would always be "it." Turning them into things made it easier for her to shoot them. She had recognized it, in the last moments when she stared at the face. She had recognized it, and even though she didn't really know the guy, she'd heard enough about him that she had to erase the knowledge of who he had been before.

"Max," Lucky said, his voice so low that Sam almost thought it was her own voice floating through her mind. "For a mobster, he wasn't a bad guy."

"He's not anything, anymore." Sam was just waiting for him to come closer. She wasn't sure, with the wind, that she could make the shot at this distance. She should have gone to it, she knew that, but that moment of recognition made her falter. It wasn't that she liked Max. She barely knew Max. However, others knew Max, and a lot of people said that the only bad thing about him was that he worked for Sonny Corinthos. Look where working for Corinthos had gotten him.

The zombie that was Max came into range and Sam fired. Some sound or smell turned his head at the last second and her shot missed. Instead of the center of his forehead, where she was aiming, her bullet passed through the ruined mess of his cheek. It must have missed his brain, gone out just behind the zombie's ear because he… Max… it… Dammit! Sam cursed herself for humanizing the thing as its head whipped back around in their direction.

It moved toward them in a strange gait, a mix of lumbering and running, like it was trying to go faster than its body would allow. Sam fired again, but she'd never been that great at moving targets. Maybe if it was going straight, she'd have been fine, but it's strange lumber-run moved it from side to side, up and down, and she couldn't get a good aim.

Lucky didn't even try to aim. He just cut loose with an automatic rifle that he swung from behind his back. The zombie's head and shoulders were little more than ruined meat by the time its body crumpled to the ground. "Kind of a shame," Lucky said.

Sam looked at him with a raised eyebrow. She had no idea what he was talking about. "What?"

"I spent a lot of time practicing my accuracy, and now, it doesn't really matter, does it?"

Sam shrugged. "As long as they go down and stay down…" She shrugged again. "I guess accuracy really doesn't count for much." With that thought, Sam holstered her handgun and swung around her own automatic, one of the SWAT rifles she had taken from the weapons locker at the station.

Sam started to speak, to tell Lucky that they needed to get going, when a collective scream pierced the air. Sam turned in a full circle as the sound came. It seemed to be coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once. It was like it came from the sky and rained the shouts of the dead on their heads. She looked at Lucky, her eyes wide.

"Oh… shit."

Lucky only nodded, unable to speak for a moment. He gulped hard enough that Sam saw his throat move with it. Finally, he said, "I think we just let them know where we are."

"And they're coming straight for us."

Lucky nodded, and just as his eyes went distance over Sam's shoulder, her eyes did the same over his. Sam could see them coming out, pushing and shoving against each other from various directions on that side, coming their way. She could only assume that Lucky's wide eyes meant they were doing the same thing in his line of sight.

"Sam?"

"Yeah?"

Lucky's hands tightened on his gun. "Run."


	15. Chapter 15

"You've found a way in there, right?" Robert Scorpio ignored the voice coming from beside him. "Robert, come on, man. Our kids are in there! You've found a way in, right?"

Robert didn't say what instantly came to mind; the fact that Frisco Jones hadn't seen his oldest daughter since she was a small child and he had never seen the other. He held his tongue because, besides the fact that it would be rude and unnecessary, Robert knew from experience that it didn't matter how often a parent saw his or her child. The second he knew of that child's existence, said child's survival became the most important thing in the world.

Wasn't that the reason they stayed away, after all? The girls probably didn't see it that way. Robin said she understand, but he was sure that if Maxie or Georgie were asked, they would have something harsher to say about their father. Robert knew, though, that they stayed away to keep them safe. The World Security Bureau was out there making sure that the bad guys didn't get a leg up, that they didn't win. The WSB also supplied plenty of enemies for its agents, and the last thing any member of the Bureau wanted was to bring those enemies home. That was why so many of them stayed away, and even more of the others didn't make families in the first place.

"I'm working on it," Robert tossed to the side. If this were a PCPD operation, he'd have had a way into town in no time. Unfortunately, quarantining an entire town was a federal matter, and the WSB weren't the only initials on their side of the quarantine line. In fact, the WSB wasn't even there to do anything but observe and report back. Their people just wanted to know if the infestation of Port Charles had the probability to spread.

He had to wonder, were they asleep at the wheel when they assigned him and Frisco to this detail? It was well known in the Bureau that both men had family there. There were the daughters, plus both men had brothers inside. Maybe they thought that they would be more vigilant, because of those connections. Or maybe they knew that once Robert and Frisco heard about it, they would be on their way to Port Charles anyway. They might as well use them.

It was more than likely the latter. Robert had no delusions about the WSB. They had no qualms about using their own people. That's what they'd signed up for, wasn't it? Besides, Robert would have done the same thing if he were in charge. He'd have sent in someone who was already going to want to be there, anyway, someone who actually had something to lose behind that barricade. He doubted Frisco had even thought about it. He was too worried about everyone inside.

Robert was worried about them, too, but he was also worried about something else. He had plenty of benign reasons, all sensible, as to why he and Frisco had been sent in, but he was still waiting for a call that turned it all sinister. Looking around at all the other acronyms in suits, he had to wonder how many of them had orders to bring a sample of whatever had infected the people of Port Charles back to their superiors. He also wondered when he was going to get the call to do the same thing, and if he was actually going to do it.

"I can't get through to Tony." Robert turned to Frisco, his face blank. Frisco held his phone up to the light, staring at the screen. "I have a signal, but it's like they don't have one inside. I don't even go to voice mail. I just get nothing."

Robert sighed. Frisco was a very competent agent, more than competent. He was one of the best. However, he was at his best when he was distant from the situation. His brother was in there. His children were in there. His ex-wife was in there. His mind was with them instead of being in the present, and being aware of what he already knew.

"You've been in this kind of thing before," Robert told him. "Have they ever had signal inside the lines?"

Frisco glowered, but Robert was fairly certain his anger was toward himself. He was letting himself get distracted. "How the fuck are you so calm, man?" Yes, Robert was more than fairly certain that Frisco was angry with himself. He had seen it time and time again with other of the alpha male variety. It was always best to turn the anger elsewhere. Robert had done it before, usually where Luke Spencer was involved.

"I'm calm because there's no point in being anything else." And, because he'd been doing this a lot longer than Frisco Jones. He had been in so many situations that involved the people he loved that he had learned to compartmentalize the fear, to put it away in a part of his brain to be retrieved later, when the risks were nowhere near as high, and he had the time and space to let the worry consume him. Losing his mind would not help Mac or Robin.

"I'm surprised Anna's not here."

Robert would have been to, but, "She's on assignment elsewhere," he told him. "Believe me, the moment word went out, she called. She won't break cover as long as she knows we're here and we're handling the situation."

"We're not handling anything," Frisco told him. "We're standing out here with our thumbs up our asses, not even knowing if our family is still alive or if they're one of those… things."

"We're waiting for the proper time to act," Robert told him.

"And when, exactly, is the proper time to act?"

"When I get a phone call."

Frisco grunted. "Luke's not in there, Robert. He probably doesn't even know what's going on. You know the man's unreachable unless he wants to be when he goes off on one of his wild goose chases."

Robert looked Frisco full in the eyes and said, "Luke Spencer is not the only contact I have within Port Charles."

* * *

"We're completely cut off," Jax said. "It came on suddenly. That tells me that not only has the government figured out what's going on in here, they've probably already quarantined the town."

He had been on the phone with his parents when the lines suddenly went dead. Jax could hear his father's voice in the background as his mother stressed to him that it was time that he gathered his wife and daughter, and quickly found a way out of Port Charles. Lady Jane didn't know about the zombies, and Jax had no desire to tell her. The news only reported that there had been an explosion, and from what Jax discerned from his mother, they were telling people that there was some kind of chemical involved. Only the local news had shown what was really going on, and The Powers That Be had been quick to make sure only Port Charles residents ever got that news. They had been much quicker with that than they had been cutting off the telephone lines.

Lady Jane was right, though. It was time to get out of there. Jax had most of a plan, but the problem was multiplying it. He could only fly so many people out via helicopter at a time. Once he flew the first batch out, he would never make it back behind the barricaded lines to get the rest. And that was all ignoring the fact that he might very well be shot out of the sky.

Nikolas leaned over the map of Spoon Island and pointed, saying, "There are tunnels here and here." He stood up straight and said, "There are probably more. Those are just the ones that I've found, and Spencer's not really old enough to have gone searching for the others, yet."

Jax nodded. "How far do the tunnels go?"

"Not really sure." Nikolas raked the underside of his chin with the back of hand, nails lightly raking the skin. "I haven't actually explored them." He grunted a laugh. "I never thought I'd say it, but I wish Luke were here. He knows the history of this place. He would have an idea."

"I'm pretty sure there's at least one tunnel that runs under the river and goes all the way to the mainland." All eyes looked up as AJ spoke. "This was prime bootlegging territory during Prohibition. They had to have a way to get it from out here to the city."

AJ's face started to turn red, and Jax could see when he realized it and forced his head to stay straight, forced himself not to look away or flinch. The four of them, Jax, Nikolas, AJ, and Jason, had managed to get away from everyone else. Jax used the excuse that he wanted to get details from Jason about their trip from the hospital, comparing it to the trip he and AJ took to get to the docks, to get away from everyone else. This was Nikolas's home, so that's why he went with them. There would have been too many interruptions from others if they had had this discussion with the large group that had converged on Spoon Island, and AJ would have never said anything. He would have expected someone in his family to say something snide about his knowledge of bootlegging, and Jax had to admit, he would have expected it, too. AJ had given him an important piece of information, and he would have hated to be without it because the Quartermaines always had something to say.

"You're right," Jason said. His brow knit in concentration. "I remember Luke saying something about it once. It's there, we just had to find it."

Jax nodded with approval. He'd never known Jason to be adventurous, but he had seen the look of hurt on Jason's face when the shouting died down and he was finally able to tell everyone what had happened, about Sam and Lucky's decision to stay and help others. He was worried for Sam, yes, but he also wanted to be out there helping. He didn't want to play the hero, he just wanted to do his job. Now, he was going to get the chance.

"We need flashlights," Jax said, "and I'll need a pencil and a pad of paper. I'll also need anything you have to leave a trail. I can draw a map to lead us toward it when I find the right tunnel. I won't need to go all the way across. There will be signs, mainly that the tunnel will go from being made mostly of dirt and rock to being some kind of metal to keep the water from pressing in. I'll just need to make sure I can find my way back."

"I'm going with you," AJ and Jason said at the same time.

Jax shook his head. "I'm taking AJ." To his credit, AJ didn't look smug. Jason, however, did look disappointed. "Nikolas was never an option," he said, "because if he's gone too long, his uncle will feel the need to know, and no offense, Nikolas, but your uncle and I are not on the same page, ever. It doesn't matter that we're family."

Nikolas gave a small shrug. "I love my uncle, and I wouldn't be on the same page with him about this, either. He would want to wait it out. Besides, I have no problem staying behind. I may have had my rebellious period, but I'm not much for spelunking."

Jax chuckled. Nikolas was a straight shooter. It was one of the Cassadine genes that he appreciated it, one of the many things he loved about Alexis. It was best to know these up front and easier than having to pry information out of someone. Jax was sure there were many things that Nikolas didn't willingly share, but he knew the difference between important information and keeping secrets out of habit.

"Jason…"

"Don't tell me," he interrupted, "I get to wrangle the crowd when they start wondering where the two of you are."

Jax put a hand on Jason's shoulder. "I know you're tired of it, but you're still the best. Besides, taking both of you would be too many people down there just on a scouting mission. Would you prefer that AJ had to stay with your family?" Jason looked to his brother and sighed as he shook his head. "Also, remember that AJ and I have been working together for quite a while now. We work well together."

"I'm really tired of being left behind," Jason said, but he still handed over one of the guns that he had arrived strapped down with and some ammunition. "Just in case," he said.

Jax nodded. "Just in case."

"Well, we have a plan," AJ said, "but what do we do when we actually get to Port Charles? We're not taking the launch because, I'm assuming, not only is there the chance that the docks are full of zombies by now, but because they've probably put guards in the water by now."

Jax nodded and said, "Yes, we're lucky that the others made it across when they did. I don't doubt that soon after, when they realized some might try to go by boat, people were put out there. They're probably watching the island, which is another reason we're not going by normal means of transportation."

"So," Nikolas asked, "what do we do when we get to the other side? That's assuming that you can actually find a way out and the tunnel to the mainland still exists?"

Jax's lips curled up in a slow smile. "I assume that you have a satellite phone on hand?"

"Yes," Nikolas said.

"Then, I make a phone call. I'm almost certain that there's someone on the other side of the barricade that not only can help us out, but who will be more than willing to help us out of the city."


	16. Chapter 16

Lucky silently thanked his father for living a sneaky life as he pulled Sam through a building and headed for the basement. There were entrances all over town to the catacombs that lay beneath Port Charles, and Luke had told him where to find every single one that he'd found. It was one of the first things Luke did once he and Laura had followed Lucky into town. He needed to know how to get around, and more importantly, get away, if the need ever rose. Boy, had the need risen.

"Lucky, where are we going!" Sam shouted, but she didn't stop. Her feet kept moving. Lucky was amazed at the speed a woman in high heels could have.

"Down and under," he told her. He thought to himself, _Please, let it be clear. _The catacombs were the only way he was going to get anyone at the diner out and to safety. Hell, he wondered if there was even any safety to get them to. The fires at the docks that had kept the zombies at bay previously had to be dying down by now. The water might be swarming with them. Not to mention, he didn't even know if there was a route to Spoon Island, anymore.

Lucky wasn't dumb. He could tell by the number of zombies that chased them that the town had to be cut off. Troops hadn't been sent in yet, but if the town borders were open, the zombies would have started spilling out. They'd have been off looking for more food, fresh food, instead of clambering through the streets. If the town was cut off, so were the waterways surrounding them. They might not even be able to get back to Spoon Island.

In the basement, Lucky fumbled around on the floor, shoving things out of the way, searching for the trap door that led them down below. He trusted Sam to have his back as he looked for their escape route. He heard her boots thump as she ran up to the top of the stairs. The door was leading to the basement was gone. Her view would have been clear.

Lucky paused for a moment. The door was destroyed, gone. Shit! He pulled his gun, both hands wrapped around the barrel and scanned the basement. He didn't even think to check the basement. Something could come at them and they wouldn't know until it was too late. As quickly as he dared, Lucky swept through the basement, all four corners, and found nothing but darkness. He went back to the stairs and saw streaks of blood. Whoever had been killed down there had already pulled themselves up and out by the time they got down there. Satisfied that they were safe, for the moment, Lucky resumed his search for the trap door.

As he looked for their exit, Lucky pushed the images of the dead and undead from his mind. As they ran, he hadn't had time to stop and look for people he knew, but his mind had registered them and stored their faces for later. They tried to pop back up and Lucky shoved them back down. Now was not the time. Now, they had to get out of that basement.

"Lucky…"

"I'm looking."

"Hurry up. We're sitting ducks down here."

Lucky threw a glance back Sam's way. She was halfway down the stairs, now, her gun out. She was right. If they got caught down there, they had no way out. Lucky hadn't been down in the catacombs in years, had no way of knowing for sure that all of the entrances he had been shown over a decade ago were still there. What if someone had sealed it up, already? He'd have led them to their deaths.

"Lucky…" Sam's gun went off. Lucky turned as Sam hopped down the last two steps and pushed her body against the wall. The zombie came tumbling down the stairs and landed at her feet. She put another one in the back of the zombie's head just to be sure, just in case her first shot hadn't been made with perfect aim. She looked over to Lucky and their eyes met. "Hurry up."

"I'm hurrying."

Lucky closed his eyes and thought back to when he was a little kid. He had run down the basement steps in front of his dad. When he concentrated, he could hear Luke chuckling behind him as Lucky jumped off the bottom step and stared around the basement. He heard Luke's voice, telling him about the bootlegging in Port Charles during Prohibition. He watched his father walk around the basement, seemingly going nowhere as he told of people running liquor and then abruptly changed to the Cassadines and the Ice Princess.

Luke's voice went on, but Lucky didn't really hear the words. He couldn't recall them because he hadn't really listened too closely back then, either. There had been more stuff in the basement back then, things like old model cars and stuff hidden beneath dirty sheets that would catch a nine year old boy's attention. Lucky only listened to his father again when he called his name in a sharp tone that Luke hardly ever used.

Lucky's head popped up and his father was standing in the far back of the basement, to the right of the stairs. He knelt on the floor, halfway between each corner. His hand touched the floor and he said, "You have to remember all of these, Lucky. Just in case. Here in Port Chuckles, you never know when you'll need it."

Lucky's eyes flew open and he ran across the basement and dropped to the floor just before he hit the wall. He tossed two heavy boxes to the side and sighed with relief as he saw the rusted metal ring that served as a door knob. Lucky gripped the ring and jerked up hard. His arms strained and the wood of the door groaned. Obviously, it had been a while since someone had opened it. He wondered if the previous person who came down there had known that the entrance was there at all, or if they just hadn't made it that far.

"Lucky, we don't—" Sam stopped and stared down into the gaping hole that Lucky had finally revealed.

Lucky looked up at her with a raised eyebrow. "You're not claustrophobic, are you?"

Sam gulped and shook her head. "I just… That's underground," she said.

"It's better than up here." He looked back to the stairs. There were more zombie bodies at the foot of the steps. More zombies, these as alive as they could be, stumbled down the steps. The bodies at the bottom slowed them down, as did the clog at the doorway at the top, but they would make their way to them in seconds.

Lucky grabbed Sam by the arm and said, "Go." He gave her just enough time to holster her weapon, then pulled her down and Sam had no choice but to go down the hole. He held her arms and lowered her down. When she was clear, Lucky jumped down and pulled the door shut just as a zombie arm stretched out and swiped at him.

Some of the entrances were doorways that led to stairs carved into the earth. Others were holes in the ground with long ladders leading into the depths of the catacombs. This one was little more than a ledge that ran the length of the building before coming to a large wooden ladder that led down. Sam went down first, and Lucky followed, his eyes open and searching.

The ladder seemed to go on forever, but finally, Lucky and Sam hit the bottom. Lucky dusted his hands and looked around. "Keep your eyes open," he told Sam. "Somebody might have left a door open on their way down here."

"How many people know about these tunnels?" Sam asked him.

Lucky shrugged. "I'm pretty sure just about everybody has heard about them. Anybody who was here back in the 80s should know about 'em. Doesn't mean many of 'em remembered them, though." Lucky took a moment to orient himself. Luke hadn't just shown him the entrances. He'd shown him the exits, too. There was no point knowing about underground tunnels if you were just going to end up dying down there because you got lost and couldn't find your way out.

Lucky started walking. "The good thing about this place, though," he said, "is that there aren't too many places where anything can sneak up on us. It's gotta come right at us."

"Unless it comes from behind us."

"True." Lucky shrugged. "Just keep your ears open, and we'll be careful at the corners."

They trudged on, both with guns in their hands. At each intersection, they stood on either side, each peering around the corners, down the way they were going, and back the way they came. Of course, their luck couldn't hold up. Zombies came at them, but they took them down quickly. Lucky stopped whenever they came up on an entrance and checked the door. He found three of them open, and was surprised that they hadn't seen more zombies.

"They're probably wandering around or eating their own legs," Sam said, rolling her eyes. Lucky gave her a lot of credit. She was obviously uncomfortable. All of the zombie kills down there but one had been hers. The slightest sound had her jumping, making her the first one to face the zombies coming up from the rear. The one Lucky had taken down had come at them from the front. Lucky got him because he was leading the way.

"Are you sure these tunnels are sturdy?" Sam pressed against a wall. "I mean, how long have these things been down here, ya know? The walls could cave in on us or something."

"They're sturdy, Sam."

She grunted. "I don't like it." She grumbled, but she kept going.

They finally reached the spot Lucky was sure was the entrance to Kelly's. This one was a long ladder that led straight up to a trap door in the floor. Lucky stared up at it and hoped that he wasn't going in for the worst. The catacombs had seemed like a good idea at the time. They could make their way without the zombie hordes. They would have time to think. However, they had given up their sight for the freedom to walk to their destination mostly unmolested. He didn't know what he was getting into up there. What if the place was overrun?

"Well?"

Lucky sighed. He wondered what Aunt Ruby would have said about all this mess. He almost laughed, imagining Ruby standing in her diner with a shotgun cocked, locked and loaded. He shook his head. "Here's the plan…"

They went up as closely together as possible, with just a little room between them. At the top, Sam pressed herself flat against the ladder. Lucky hovered over her. He shoved the trap door open and both of them shot up, their torsos sticking up, guns aimed… at nothing. The storeroom was empty. Sam's sigh of relief almost matched Lucky's.

They climbed carefully up and Lucky closed the trap door behind them. The door fell down hard, and Lucky heard a squeak, the sound of a human voice. Someone was in there, and since that someone hadn't charged, he had to assume that it wasn't a zombie. He also had to assume that whoever had made the noise would be armed, and that they would shoot if he just came barging through the door.

Lucky looked at Sam and she nodded. He turned toward the door that led to the kitchen, and then out into the rest of the diner. "Hello?"

Silence for a moment, then, "Who's there?"

Lucky felt like he was going to fall on the floor. Thank God, he thought. "Aunt Bobbie? Aunt Bobbie, is that you?"

The door opened slowly. "Lucky?" Sure enough, Barbara Jean Spencer was standing there with a 9mm in her hand, pointed at the floor. "Oh, God, Lucky!"

Lucky made quick work of the floor and hugged his aunt tightly. He barely noticed Sam moving past them into the kitchen. He hadn't had to worry about his Luke and Lulu, but he'd known that Bobbie was out there somewhere. Hers was the one face that he kept hoping not to see and the one that his mind was searching for, even when he wasn't actively searching for anyone.

Lucky pulled back. "Who else is here?"

"Tony and Lucas," she told him, pulling him by the arm through the kitchen and into the diner. "Mac and Felicia are here, too. Felicia has no idea where the girls are, and we haven't seen Robin, either. Mike is here, and Lainey. There were more, but they all ran out when everything went to hell. We tried to stop them, but…"

Lucky sighed. "There's no stopping some people."

"Exactly," she told him. She squeezed his wrist. "I'm glad to see you."

"You, too." Lucky looked around at the assembled people. They were all haggard and tired, but at least they had food and water. He caught sight of Sam standing by the window, looking out onto a horde of zombies pressed against the windows, trying to get in. None had figured out how to break the glass, yet, but it was only a matter of time.

"Have you heard anything about Nikolas and Emily? What about the rest of the Quartermaines?"

Lucky pulled his wrist free of her grasp and patted her on the shoulder. "Nikolas and Emily are on Spoon Island. I'll…" He paused, then said, "I'll fill you in on everything in a minute, okay?"

Lucky walked away from his aunt and went to Sam at the window. He stared out at them all and it took his breath away. A good quarter of the town had to be out there. "We've got trouble," he said softly.

"No shit."

"We can go back through the catacombs, but I'm pretty sure the city's been cut off. I don't know if we can make it back to Spoon Island."

"We've got bigger troubles than that," Sam told him with a sigh.

"What?"

Her head turned and when they settled, they landed on the commissioner, sitting against the wall. Sweat glistened on his face. Felicia sat next to him, holding his hand. "Mac's been bitten."


	17. Chapter 17

"Spelunking was not in my job description," AJ said with a grunt, but there was also a grin there. He had to admit that he was having…. Well, maybe not fun, but it was an adventure. AJ's life hadn't really been exciting since high school, and even then, when he looked back on it, that was just plain old teenage drama.

"I think I'll have to rewrite your job description," Jax told him, "just in case you decide to quit and I have to hire a new assistant. Must be able to travel through underground caves in expensive shoes during a zombie apocalypse."

AJ laughed. He was surprised that he was capable of laughing after everything they had seen and done. There were zombies out there, and when the zombies settled down, they would probably find the looters that had been turned into zombies because they just couldn't wait to break into a store and steal something. Disasters could bring out the worst in people, but he was finding that this one was also bringing out the best in people. At least, it was bringing out the best in AJ.

"Ya know, I don't want a drink?" AJ slowly flashed his light from left to right as they moved just as slow through the tunnel. "I haven't wanted one since we left Wyndemere."

"Looks like your brother was right," Jax said. "You need to get away from your family."

AJ wasn't happy about it, but he was right. He knew that he couldn't truly blame others for his drinking. He had to take responsibility for his actions. His family was a catalyst, an excuse to grab a drink. AJ took himself out of that situation and- And he was lying because he didn't take himself out of the situation. He let himself be kicked out, and it just happened to be the best thing that ever happened to him. Either way, though, he was away from them, and without them around bitching at him, he didn't feel the need to drink.

Both of them spoke in low tones, their voices bouncing off the tunnel walls. When they stopped talking, there was mostly silence. AJ heard the occasional trickle of water as they passed beneath the harbor and headed into the underground mainland tunnels. He also heard what sounded like the shuffling of feet. He stopped and listened, tilting his head to the side. AJ put a hand out, took a light hold on Jax's arm. When he stopped moving, they both listened.

They had been fairly lucky so far. Past the mainland, they had only encountered the bodies of zombies they had already killed on their first trip out to Spoon Island. Getting into the catacombs wasn't easy. One had to know exactly where the entrances were, and once down there, a knowledge of the catacombs' twists and turns was necessary. The occasional zombie could get down there, yes, if someone left a door open, but that zombie would also get lost. Someone could roam those tunnels forever and never make it out.

"Stefan thinks you're cheating on Alexis." AJ stood up straight, let his arm drop to the side. He didn't hear anything else. AJ walked forward, his flashlight brightening the dark areas in front of them. So far, everything had been straight forward. That, and the occasional lines of water, said that they were still under the harbor. Now, the walls were mostly dry, and there should be a turn soon, many turns, probably, that led all throughout Port Charles. They were going to have to figure out which way to go, and it was a lot easier to focus on Jax's in-law issues than to think about all the ways they could get lost down there. Zombies weren't the only things that could get lost roaming around underground.

"What?" Jax's voice was a little loud, and he must have realized it because when he spoke again, his voice was softer. "What are you talking about?"

"My parents spent the entirety of their marriage accusing each other of cheating." He snorted a laugh. "Usually, they were right. I can spot the look of accusation a mile away, and Stefan thinks you're cheating on Alexis."

"I'm not cheating on my wife."

"I know that. Just letting you know that your brother-in-law doesn't know that."

AJ stopped at the turn. They had a choice to make. They could keep going straight, they could go right, or they could go left. AJ turned right and flashed his light down the tunnel. There was nothing but darkness in front of him. He went the other way, taking a few steps down the tunnel. The darkness was narrow, but spread out not too far down the line. There was another turn-off not too far down that tunnel. He came back to the center and looked straight ahead.

"The smart thing would probably be to keep going straight," Jax said. There was something in his voice, though, something akin to longing. AJ gave him a sideways look. In the darkness, he could only see Jax's face in shadows, but he would almost swear that he was starting to grin.

"You want to explore," AJ said.

"It would help to know what is out there." He pulled the notepad and pencil he'd taken from Wyndemere out of his pocket and flashed his light down on it. There was nothing but a straight line, marking where they had gone so far. "We may need an alternate route."

He had a point, but… "I don't know that we have the time to do a real exploration, Jax." AJ flashed his light down each of the tunnels again. "I think we should have an initial route before we go looking for an alternate one."

Jax thought about it, and AJ could see him conceding his point. That was another thing he liked about workin gwith Jax. He actually listened to AJ's ideas, considered them, and when one turned out to be good, he gave it to him, even if that idea is in contrast to his own.

"We're going to have to go topside," Jax told him. He looked up at the dirt ceiling above them. "That means we're going to have to find a door. We have to know where we are to be able to mark it on the map."

AJ chuckled. "Still finding a way to explore?"

"Something like that." He looked down at his notebook again. "We've gone a straight line since we left Wyndemere, and right now, we're probably along the docks. I figure if we go about a mile ahead, we should be able to come up somewhere in the city."

"Safely?"

"We're in a zombie apocalypse, AJ. There's no such thing as safely." Jax let out a heavy breath and looked up again. "I would prefer having more equipment, but…" He shook his head and looked at AJ. "I have more experience with weapons, so I'll go up first."

"Or, I'm not a dumbass, so I can go first."

"AJ…"

"I know how to handle weapons, Jax. Turn off the safety, point, and shoot. Besides, you have a family that will miss you if we open a door and a zombie eats you. Alexis would kill me if I let you get eaten."

"You have a family, too," Jax said. "They're all waiting back on Spoon Island, and I think your grandfather would have my hide if I let you be eaten by zombies."

"Actually, Jason would kill you, but he's the only one." In the end, they hadn't taken all of the weapons that Jason had brought with him to Spoon Island. He needed to have something with him in case the zombies breached. AJ had a shotgun strapped to his back and a handgun in the waistband of his pants. Jax had one gun in his hand, another in his jacket pocket. They weren't loaded for bear, but they were loaded for the few zombies they would come across.

"So," AJ said, "we go a mile or so forward, and then we find a way up."

Jax nodded. "Robert knows these tunnels pretty well, at least the ones inside the city. Once we reach the center of town, he can guide us to the necessary tunnel entrance that will lead us to the other side of the quarantine zone. Once we have the way cleared, we can go back for the others. We may even be able to lead some kind of real rescue squad back to them, or convince them to fly onto the island and take everyone to safety."

AJ nodded. This would have been a lot easier if it was just one trip, but he knew that having all of those people with them, especially the children, would have just made things harder. It was best to clear the way of zombies, and more importantly, to know the way, before they brought everyone else.

There was a part of him, though, that wanted to leave them all there. At least, out on Spoon Island, they were safe. His family was a pain in his ass, but AJ didn't want them dead. He just wanted them to give him a break. And yet, he knew that Spoon Island wasn't completely safe. At some point, zombies would find their way out there. Roaming around lost in the catacombs was fine, but eventually, zombies would happen upon the right way.

Zombies…

AJ stopped thinking because he heard something. That was a distinct shuffling noise, and a quick look to the side told him that Jax heard it, too. AJ flipped the shotgun around and stepped in front of Jax.

"What are you doing?"

"I have the shotgun," AJ told him.

"Yes, and I have guns of my own. You're my assistant, AJ, not my bodyguard."

"Looks like I just got another duty to add to my job description, huh? Must be willing to save the boss's ass when the zombies come."

Holding the shotgun with one hand was awkward. It was big and AJ wasn't going to be able to get good shots in one-handed. He put the flashlight in his pocket, the light still on, and gripped the gun with both hands. The light in his pocket shown up, and Jax's light was still showing down the tunnel, but it was too dark. AJ wouldn't have seen the zombies until they were almost upon them.

AJ was ready to switch guns, preparing to swing the shutgun back over his shoulder when Jax stepped up beside him and shone his light down the tunnel. In his other hand, he held a gun, his arm steady and straight.

"How about we save each other's asses?" Jax tossed him a wink. "I really don't want to have to break in a new assistant."

AJ looked at Jax, watched him for a minute. He wondered how many men of Jax's status would have taken that step up when someone was ready and willing to take a zombie bite for them? He figured, probably not too many. Jasper Jacks was one of a kind, and AJ was damn lucky that he had taken him on.

AJ nodded and turned his attention back down the tunnel. The moans were getting louder. "Okay," he said, "we save each other's asses. And when this is over and we both get out of it alive? I want one hell of a raise. I think I've earned it."

"Yes, AJ," Jax said as the first zombie came into the circle of light. "You definitely have."


	18. Chapter 18

"Look," Sam said, "I don't like this anymore than you do, but we both know what's going to happen. The smart thing to do is put a bullet in his head before he starts eating Felicia."

Sam kept her voice down, though she much preferred to have arguments loud where she could fully, vocally express her anger. Unlike the rest of her family that seemed to have their arguments with just their eyes and the relative tightness of their lips, Sam was more animated. Now, though, she wished she could argue as completely, yet quietly, as others of the clan Cassadine.

She was sure that at least one other person in the diner had considered it, but no one had said it out loud, or at least, they hadn't while Sam and Lucky had been there. They tossed glances Mac and Felicia's way, but they didn't say anything. It was like they were avoiding it, as if they could make it go away by just not talking about it. Sam was pretty sure that if one of them heard this argument, they would freak out, and that would lead to everyone else freaking out. Sam had enough problems without a diner full of screaming.

Lucky took Sam by the arm and pulled her into the kitchen. Though they had already been standing behind the counter, as far from everyone as they could get and still be in the room, Lucky obviously thought it was still too close. Maybe he wanted to keep them all in the dark, or maybe he just wanted some semblence of privacy. He didn't want that much privacy, though. They could both still see out of the kitchen doors that he propped open with a huge can of tomato sauce.

"Lucky…"

"No," he said, cutting her off. "We're not—" Lucky shook his head. He looked out the door, cast his eyes over the room, then turned back to Sam. She felt bad for him, she did. He had known these people a hell of a lot longer than she had. They were like family to him. He was going to get them killed, though.

"Lucky, it's inevitable."

"No, it's not." Lucky took in a deep breath and held it until it looked like he was going to choke. He let the air out in a huge whoosh. Lucky put his hands to his face and Sam heard him muttering something. After a while, he put his hands down and said, "We don't know for sure that just a bite is going to do it."

"Yeah," Sam said, "we do. Just look outside."

The zombies were still out there. Whether someone stood at the windows or not, the zombies knew that they were there. Bobbie had told them that, for a while, they had all sat perfectly still. For a good half an hour no one moved and they all breathed as shallow as they could. Still, the zombies didn't go away. Somehow, they knew that live, fresh meat was waiting for them inside and they were just going to wait it out. They'd get them eventually.

"We haven't actually seen it," Lucky told her. "We haven't watched one of them turn to start to finish." He took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he reopened his eyes, Sam could tell that he was trying his best to be calm and rational. Talking in a low voice came easily to him. It was natural. He wasn't shaking or anything. His eyes, though… No matter what he did, the frantic desperation was still in their wide depths.

"Jason saw it," Sam told him. "Elizabeth saw it. My mom saw it. Hell," she said, "I'm sure Mac saw it, when Sonny was in the hospital."

"The hell with Sonny, alright? Sonny…" Lucky bit his lip. Sam knew there was some kind of family history between the Spencers and Corinthos, that Luke and Sonny had been close friends, once. Sam was kind of glad that all her family seemed to have were close enemies. It meant she didn't have to feel bad about cursing people.

"Sonny brought this on himself," Lucky told her.

"That doesn't change the fact that they watched him go from living human being to biting zombie in a span of a few hours."

"First of all," he said, "Sonny was bitten. None of the reports said anything about bite marks. Sonny got a face full of whatever compound caused this in the first place. Add to that his injuries, and you have direct bloodstream. We don't know for sure that someone who's just bitten won't get better with some medicine or something."

"Yes, Lucky, we do." Sam was trying to be patient, but it was hard. He had all these… feelings… and they were getting in the way of his common sense. She wanted to take him out there and make him look at Mac, force him to take a good look, but there was no way to do that without alerting everyone else.

"Sam, you're not seeing—"

"I'm seeing everything perfectly. You're the one not seeing things." Sam took in what she hoped was a calming breath as she realized her voice was getting louder. On the exhale, she didn't feel any calmer, but she was in control enough to lower her voice again.

"You saw him, Lucky. He's sweating. He's weak. He's probably dying right now."

"You don't know that. Maybe the bite's just infected or something."

"Yeah, there's an infection, Lucky. It's called zombie, and it's got a hold of Mac. Look," she said, laying a hand against his arm. She felt him flinch under her touch, but he didn't pull away completely. "I know you care about Mac, but the best thing you can do for him is to put him out of his misery."

When he flinched this time, he did pull away. Lucky looked at her not with desperation now, but with anger. "Would you be saying this if it was Nikolas or Alexis out there? What if that was Jason out there? What if it was somebody that you gave a damn about? Is there anyone you give a damn about?"

It was Sam's turn to flinch. She knew that Lucky was just lashing out, but hurt all the same. Sam knew that some people thought she was cold because she hadn't been quick to embrace family and life in Port Charles. Hell, some people thought she was a heartless bitch the second they found out she was a Cassadine. Sam cared about a lot of people. She cared about Lucky as she stood there, watching him break down over the thought of his boss and friend turning into a zombie. It was because she cared that she saw this as their only option. She had come to save these people. How could she sit there and let any of them get turned into the special of the day?

"I care," she said softly. "I care about a lot of people, and if any of them were bitten, I'd be saying the same thing."

"So easy for you to say when you don't actually have to consider it. It's great in theory, but this isn't theory, Sam, and it sure isn't _28 Days Later_."

They stood in silence then, staring at one another. Sam wanted to believe that Mac would get better. She wanted to believe that a bite could heal, just in case she found herself with a limb in a zombie's mouth. She'd rather have hope than what she had, which was a resolution to put a bullet in her own head if she got bitten. There was just too much evidence saying that wasn't the case. Mac looked sick, and all he had was a bite. He was flushed with fever, drenched in sweat, and he barely kept his eyes open. The zombie's bite had done that to him. Eventually, it would kill him, and then it was just a matter of time before his eyes opened and he tried to kill them all.

A soft voice a few feet to the side of them said, "I know what you're talking about." They both turned at once to see Felicia standing there, holding Mac's gun. She held the weapon tight enough to make her knuckles lose all color.

Felicia looked like shit. Sam couldn't put it any other way. Her hair was limp. Her clothes were dirty and some buttons were missing from her blouse. She was barefoot. Sam always thought of Felicia as being chipper. She always seemed to be smiling. It was just her natural state of being. Now, though, there was no smile curving Felicia's lips. Brutal reality had punched her in the face and now she just looked sad and lost.

"Felicia…"

"No." She put her hand up before Sam could say anything else. "You're talking about the same thing Mac did when he realized he was bitten."

Lucky and Sam looked at each other, but they didn't say anything. Sam turned to Felicia. She didn't have to ask for the rest of the story. Felicia was already telling it.

"There weren't as many of them out there when he got here, but there were still a lot. Everybody was fighting and trying to keep them back, and Mac was shooting his way through the crowd. Mike's shotgun ran out of bullets by the time Mac got inside. He was… It was like he was two people, ya know? On the one hand, he was methodically reloading his gun, but at the same time, he was the worried parent. He was asking about the girls, and I was freaking out because Robin wasn't answering her phone and I got cut off when I was talking to Maxie and Georgie."

Felicia stopped talking and stared down at the gun in her hand. Sam waited for her to say something, but it was like she forgot that she was talking to them. Lucky prompted her to go on. "How did people get out if they were all out there?"

Felicia looked up like she had forgotten they were there. She gave her a head a small shake then said, "There was some kind of noise outside. We didn't realize it was people until the zombies wandered off and then people started screaming. They ran out the door even though we told them to stay. They left anyway and, well, the zombies got them." Felicia looked over her shoulder, then turned back. "We barricaded the doors and a, uh, a table… it bumped Mac's leg and the pain… That's when we found out," she said. "That's when he knew he was bitten."

"You said…" Sam gulped. "You said he talked about what we were just talking about."

"He saw the bite and he—It's ridiculous! I mean, zombies. Come on, right?" The laugh that came out of her mouth was filled with desperation. A part of her was like how Alexis had been when they found her. She was searching for something logical in this mess, and there was just nothing there.

Felicia calmed herself and said, "He had his gun in his hand and he said he loved me. He told me to tell the girls that he loved them and that he was sorry and I knew what he was going to do. He kissed me, and that's when I snatched the gun from him. I'm not letting him kill himself and I won't let you do it, either."

"Felicia," Lucky started, but she shouted at him, "No!"

There was no use hiding the conversation now. Everyone had to have heard them, and yet, when Sam spoke, her voice was still soft. "It's for the best."

"No," Fel icia said, "it's not. There could be a cure for this. I don't care what happens in movies and books, the government isn't just going to give up. They'll send the military in here because even if they say it was some kind of terrorist attack in Port Charles, of all places, they can't be seen as weak."

"You're assuming it's just here," Sam told her.

"We saw the news before they cut the feeds. We saw the choppers going overhead, military choppers. It's just here, I'm sure of it, and the military is out there. Someone has a cure."

"We don't know that," Sam said.

"If they don't have one, then maybe Robin does. The last anyone knew, she was in her lab. She's always in her lab, and if anyone can find a cure, it's Robin. She doesn't know about Mac, but she'd still be looking for a cure. That's what Robin does."

Sam didn't want to say what she was thinking. It was entirely possible that Robin was dead already. Sam had been in the hospital, and that place was a ghost town. Though, now she was kind of wishing that she'd made a trip to the labs, just to be sure. Once she had Jason and Alexis, she hadn't really cared much about anyone else who might have been in there. Sure, it was possible that Robin was still alive. It was even possible that she was down in her lab finding a cure. Possible all over the place, but that didn't mean it was probable.

"Felicia's right," Lucky said. "We can't just kill him or let him kill himself."

"So, we're supposed to just sit and wait for him to turn?"

Felicia sighed and said, "I saw one of them turn. One of the people who ran out… I saw them start to eat her, and it was a good couple of minutes after she died before she came back." Felicia double-fisted the gun now. "If Mac actually dies," she said, "I'll put a bullet in him myself, but he's not getting shot until he's good and dead."

61


	19. Chapter 19

"I think you're crazy." Maxie leaned against the wall, her legs pulled up, knees in her chest. She wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her cheek against her knees. She blew hair out of her face and said, "We're going to die down here and you don't even care."

"We're not going to die down here," Robin told her. She turned away from Maxie and stared at the petrie dish in front of her and let out a heavy sigh. "Someone will come and find us."

"Who, Robin? Who's going to find us?" Robin heard Maxie's heels stamp against the floor. "No one even knows we're here. They probably think everybody in the hospital is dead."

"They'll check every single building in town. They'll be checking for the zombies, but they'll check for the living, too. I wouldn't be surprised if they came in soon and got us out."

"And who is this mysterious they of which you speak, huh? Are you holding out all your hopes on the military? Because let me tell you, Robin, they're not going to help us. They're the reason my phone won't work anymore. And please, don't tell me you think our dad would even consider leaving their precious jobs to come looking for us, because that's just plain stupid."

Robin had thought of that, actually, and while she didn't voice it, her father, at the very least, was part of the 'they' she thought about. She knew Maxie was bitter, and Georgie would even let out that bitterness at Frisco sometimes, but Robin never stopped believing that Robert loved her. If he knew what was going on, he would help get her out alive, and he would bring Frisco with him.

Beyond that, though, Robin was pretty sure that this kind of thing was just up the WSB's alley. Robin didn't have any delusions about the kind of organization her father worked for. The World Security Bureau was just that, a body that was concerned with the security of the world, and if something like this could happen in Port Charles, it could happen anywhere. They would want to know what it was, how it started, and how soon it could happen again. They would also want a sample, and if Robin came up with one, they would want a cure.

She was very, very close. The last sample had almost died. A few cells had pushed through, though, and those few cells had reproduced quickly. It was only a matter of time before she found the right combination, though. She just had to find something that killed the cells fast enough that they couldn't reproduce, and whatever she found had to not kill the person, too.

What she really wanted, though, was something that would reverse it. Sure, if she caught the infected person early enough, not long after the initial infection, she could kill the bad cells without harming them, but if all of the cells were infected, there was no way she could kill the cells without killing the person. She had to find some way to reverse the process, to revive dying cells.

But that was… That was crazy, wasn't it? The whole point of death was that it was irreversible and it was inevitable. Death and taxes, after all. But, didn't this infection do just that? It somehow reanimated a dead body, which meant that it had to bring some cells back to life, or in some way know which cells to leave alive. If she could heal the infection, then she could heal the person.

Robin pushed her chair back from her workstation and put her face in her hands. She needed someone else there to help her, someone she could bounce these ideas off of. There were too many thoughts in her head, too many things to consider. Robin had to do something, and she had to do it quickly, because if this took much longer, it was going to be too late.

She stood up and walked across the room to a large dry erase board. She cleared the board with brisk, quick strokes of the eraser, then picked up a pen. She popped the cap off, then stuck the end in her mouth. She thought as she sucked on the end of the cap, considering her options. She needed to put things in order. She had to know what she was really dealing with, outside of the petrie dish. What she really needed was someone who'd been bitten so she could study them, but she didn't have that. All she had was a dry erase board, a marker, and an eraser.

Robin drew a line on the board with an arrow on one end and a perpendicular line on the other. Above the perpendicular line she wrote, _DEATH_. A few spaces in from the arrow, she drew a line and wrote, _INFECTION. _

"What are you doing now?" Robin turned to see Maxie standing up and walking toward her. She stood with her hands on her hips, staring at the board.

Robin said, "I'm trying to figure out what the stages are between here," she jabbed at INFECTION, "and here." She jabbed at DEATH. "Somewhere between them is the point where I can still save an infected person and the point of no return, like with rabies."

And that was the key thing that Robin had only just, at that moment, come to terms with. There was going to be a point where there was nothing that she could do, no matter how hard she worked. With rabies, once symptoms manifested, there was nothing to do but make the person comfortable. But, how similar was this infection to rabies? Robin didn't want to believe that being symptomatic was the end there. She already knew that she could kill some of the cells, and if she could do that fast enough, then she'd be able to save someone, but that would have to be before the infected cells went too far. Most of the major organs had to still be okay. The brain had to still be okay. After that, though…

"Why are you so intent on doing this, Robin?" Maxie asked her. "We should be thinking of a way to save ourselves."

"I am thinking of how to save ourselves, and anyone else, too. Think about it, Maxie. Someone we love could be out there right now, infected and in need of help. And what if we got out of here and you were suddenly jumped by one of them? What if you were infected? Wouldn't you want someone to be able to save you?"

Maxie opened her mouth to object, then snapped it shut. Robin loved Maxie, but she also knew that she could be very selfish. Talking about things in the abstract, in ways that had no effect on her, didn't always work, but put it in terms that she understood and she got it. And now, Maxie was getting it. This was important. Robin had to do this.

"Why don't you go to sleep, like Georgie?"

Maxie rolled her eyes. "Georgie's not asleep. She's been faking it for at least the last hour. She just doesn't want to be part of the confrontation. Georgie doesn't really care for conflict."

"Neither does Georgie care for you talking about her like she's not here." Georgie sighed and opened her eyes as Robin turned toward her. She didn't sit up, but she made it known that yes, she was still awake. "When I'm pretending to sleep, I can pretend that this is all a game. That I'm five, and it's an elaborate game of hide and seek, and right when I fall asleep for real, Mac's going to come in and find me."

Robin went rigid as she forced herself not to cry. It was just so innocent and pure. Georgie just wanted it to all be over, but she didn't scream about it like Maxie did, she didn't whine. She just went to her own private place and stayed there until it was over.

"If I thought it was relevant," Georgie said, "I'd say that this is probably the perfect time for us to get out of here, because since everyone else in the hospital is dead, the zombies have probably moved on to find other food. But, since it's obvious that Robin isn't leaving until she has her answers and Maxie and I aren't going out there alone, we're in the best place that we can be in since, again, the zombies have probably moved on and when the rescue people search the place, they can see through the door's window that we're still alive. And with that, I'm going back to pretending I'm playing hide and seek, and I'll be waiting for Mac to come and get me."

Georgie closed her eyes again, and just like that, she was out of the conversation and back in her own world. Robin watched her for a few more seconds, then turned back to Maxie and said, "Okay, would you say that Georgie was right?"

Maxie grumbled, then muttered, "Yeah."

"So, then, since you're not doing anything else, I need you to help me."

"How am I supposed to do that?" Maxie asked.

"You're a smart girl, Maxie," Robin told her, "and I need those smarts to figure this out. I'm going to use you as a sounding board, and you're going to help me figure out what works and what doesn't. And once we've got this timeline figured out, based on what I've learned from the samples and what you saw happening outside before you came here, we're going to find, if not a cure, then a way to get rid of this infection."

"And how are we going to do that?"

Robin sighed and looked across the room. There were three rats left in the lab, and without a way of getting more, Robin had been waiting until the very last minute to use them. She would only be able to get so many answers from her supply of Sonny's blood and the infected cells she had been working on. At some point, she was going to really need to see this in action, and as their time cut off from everyone else grew, Robin knew that her time was running out. She was going to have to go to the rats a lot sooner than she would in normal trials.

Still looking at the rats, Robin said, "We're going to do some live tests."

63


	20. Chapter 20

Jax pressed his hand against the stone wall as he took in deep breaths. His clothes were stiff with dirt, grime, and the residue of long dead bodies. Blood may not have been going through their veins anymore, but as their bodies decayed, all kinds of sludge was left behind. He took deep breaths, choking down each gulp of stale air. He looked to his left and AJ was doing the same, though instead of leaning against the wall, his hands were on his knees as he bent all the way forward.

Jax's ears were ringing. The occasional shot in the catacombs wasn't too bad, but with both of their guns blasting, there was no way to avoid the deafening. Jax took the ringing as a good sign, meaning that he hadn't permanently blown his eardrums. He also didn't feel any blood leaking from his ears, another good sign. He took another look in AJ's direction, and right before AJ put his hands to his ears, Jax noted that there was no blood coming from his ears, either. It looked like they had gotten lucky.

It was a long run, that last stretch. The bullets ran out quicker than either of them had expected. More zombies had made their way into the confines of the catacombs, and the two men had to fight their way through a good two miles, maybe more. They had finally come to a clear area and they had the chance to breathe. If nothing else, the zombie scourge that had befallen Port Charles reminded Jax that he was letting himself go. He was just not in the shape that he used to be in.

Bent over, AJ said something, and to Jax, it was only muffled words. AJ's face twisted, and he guessed this his own voice was just as muffled to his ears. But, muffled was good. Muffled meant that the sound was coming back. AJ stopped trying to talk and put his fingers in his ears, wiggled them around, shook his head on either side.

AJ stood up before Jax and looked down at his clothes. Jax could empathize with the disgust on his face. There was nothing like a moment of peace to make one realize their own vanity. He wondered what it meant that they both took a moment to think of the state of their clothes? Perhaps it was merely a psychological quirk, the mind picking something less devastating to focus on when everything else was so dire.

AJ stood up straight and looked back down their path. The moment of distraction was over. "I don't see them coming, but we have a bigger problem," AJ said. Jax heard him clearly, and AJ spoke as though he heard himself clearly, too. Both of them had gotten their hearing back.

Jax nodded. "The map." He and AJ had worked together enough that their minds went in the same direction within moments of one another. As long as they both survived this godawful mess, Jax was sure that the only way he'd be getting another personal assistant was if AJ insisted on eventually being promoted. They worked so well together, he didn't want to give him up to anything else.

"How are we going to find our way back?"

Jax let out an even, calming breath. The map was still in his back pocket, but it was useless once the zombies started to flow. Their only choice had been to run and there was no time to map out their direction. There was no way that they would make it back without getting lost.

"We'll have to hope that the streets are clear enough for us to make it back to the last mapped point," Jax said. "Or, that Robert and Frisco can get us a small flight onto Spoon Island."

"I've never trusted that much in other people."

"Neither have I," Jax said. "I'd much rather do it myself. Make sure it's done right." Jax pulled the map out of his back pocket and looked at the last plotted point. Their last mapped stopping point had been three blocks east of Kelly's. The plan had been to go to Kelly's, see if anyone was alive and stock up on water, and if it was clear, call Robert and Frisco and name the diner as the meeting spot. They never made it to Kelly's.

_The zombies poured out of the tunnel so quickly that they had no choice but to turn the nearest corner. More like a bodyguard than a personal assistant, AJ grabbed Jax by the arm and threw him down the corridor. He fired twice, one after another, and the sound of the shotgun blasts shook the tunnel. Dirt shook loose from the ceiling and the walls, spraying them with rocks and dust as they pushed backward. Jax tried to turn around, get his own shots in, but AJ just pushed him further down the tunnel._

_More groans and grumbles came from in front of Jax and he saw more zombies starting to come from them in the other direction. His shined his light left to right until he found another corridor. They turned again, right this time. There weren't as many zombies in front of them, but there were plenty behind and AJ soon called out, "Reloading!"_

_Jax shoved AJ behind him and started to fire. His gun held seventeen rounds, sixteen in the clip and one in the chamber. He couldn't remember how many he had already fired. Obviously more than he thought, because after only four shorts, his gun clicked empty and it was Jax's turn to shout, "Reloading!"_

_AJ was ready again and he switched spots with Jax. They made their way through the tunnels like that, twisting and switching spots until they had no idea where beneath Port Charles they were or how they were going to find their way back once they had some kind of rescue. The plan had changed, and Jax was just going to have to deal with that._

_They hit a dead end and AJ cursed. Jax looked behind him, and repeated the curse. "We have to go forward," he told AJ, and his assistant nodded. Jax let out a warrior cry that sounded ridiculous to his ears, but it felt like the thing to do in the moment. He was sure that he was going to leave that sound out of the story when relayed later. He was also pretty sure that AJ was going to keep it in._

_There was no time to try and identify the zombies in front of them, no chance for memory to slow them down. Jax only looked at their faces to be sure that he was getting them in the head. Zombie heads exploded with each blast of AJ's shotgun, sending decaying brain matter flying to the walls. Neat holes appeared in foreheads at every one of Jax's shots. They were both deafened by the constant firing in the enclosed space but they kept going. They kept firing and reloading until there was nothing to reload, and then they used the butts of their guns to bash in brains, barely avoiding the teeth that snapped at them._

_By the time they were clear, neither of them could hear, they were out of breath, and they had no idea where they were, or where the next entrance to the street could be found. It was a moment to take a breath, to let sound come back, to come up with a new plan._

"I say we go up top at the nearest exit and find our way to the police station," AJ said, bringing Jax back to the present from the not-to-distant past. "We load ourselves up with whatever they Lucky, Sam, and Jason left behind and then we hold our ground. We can clear and lock down the police station, call Robert and Frisco, and wait for the calvary."

As much as he hated to wait for someone else, Jax had to admit that AJ's idea made sense. They were out of ammunition, and it was going to be a hard enough battle just getting to the police station. They had to anticipate running out of ammunition again, trying to get closer to the edge of town, and by then, they wouldn't have time to go all the way back to the station just to do it all over again. He didn't like to wait but they had no choice.

"I hate the idea of it," Jax said, "the waiting, but I don't see that we have any other choice."

"Maybe we'll find someone else there, someone already holed up."

"Maybe," Jax said, but he doubted it. He was more worried that they would get there and someone would have looted whatever weapons Lucky and company had left behind when they went through the place. It would be a good holding place, though. If push came to shove, they could quickly mark the door and lock themselves in the evidence room until Robert and Frisco showed up.

"Alright," Jax said, pulling himself together as much as he could. He may have been a mess, but he was still a leader. He couldn't say that he had handled worse, and he had never been a boy scout, but his parents had taught him to take the reigns. They had taught him to keep a cool head, and he was going to use those lessons to the best of his ability.

Jax said, "We'll go along this clear stretch here, go up at the first exit, and find our way from there. I'll make the call as soon as we're above ground, if the way is clear, and hopefully we won't have to wait for the cavalry for long."

"Sounds like a plan to me." AJ bent down and picked up his shotgun. It was empty and the butt was thick with gore, but he could still use it as a blunt weapon, and they might even find some shells for it. "Let's go."

Gun in hand, AJ turned around and took point. Jax was proud of him, and thought his family should be, too. When AJ first came to him and Jax agreed to take him on, he wouldn't have expected him to step up this way. He was still very fragile and he kept waiting to be told that he was a screw-up. Jax did the opposite. He put faith in him, let him know that he trusted him, and it had done AJ well. As Jax lifted his gun, holding it butt first to be used as a blunt instrument, he took pride in the fact that he had helped AJ become the strong man he proved himself to be during the zombie scourge, and he thought that if the Quartermaines didn't have good things to say about him when it was over, then they were bigger bloody idiots than he had originally pegged them to be.

66


	21. Chapter 21

National Guard reservist Anderson Porter had expected to a call to duty. He had prepared his family for the possibility that he would be sent to Afghanistan. He had put his affairs in order and made sure everyone knew that he loved them, just in case he didn't make it home. He hadn't prepared anyone at all, not even himself, to be called to Port Charles, New York to quell a zombie infestation.

Hanging out of the side of the helicopter, one leg dangling outside, Porter thought that the scene below looked like something out of a video game. Zombies roamed the docks in search of food, but there wasn't much left anymore. Porter had watched while zombies attacked people who had wandered to the docks. He watched as people were torn apart, and he watched while others that still had working limbs got back up after death and started eating the people that had tried to come and help them.

Porter had wanted to shoot them. He and his cousins played a lot of Left For Dead 2, and with as much as the scene below resembled a game, he thought he could get some good shots in. The order came in to hold, though. There were too many of them down there and he would run out of ammunition too quickly. They couldn't afford for the chopper to have to turn back to reload. So, he had to sit tight and wait for his real targets – the ones that tried to go into the water.

Porter thought about all the things he knew about zombies. Granted, no one really knew anything for a fact, since as far as Porter knew, no one had actually dealt with a zombie infestation before. All his knowledge came from books, movies, and games. Going on those things, there was one thing that he was pretty sure was probably true. Zombies were reanimated corpses, and they didn't have to breathe. The higher-ups must have believed this, because there were choppers just like Porter's hovering above every port in the city. If they got into the water, they could go anywhere.

Porter had seen the lights on in the big creepy castle they had flown over on their way to their station. At first, he had wanted to land there, pick up any survivors, and take them back to safety. Porter didn't make the calls, though, and when a call to do just that never came in, he figured they were safer there, anyway. They were on an uninfected island, for crying out loud. Could they be any safer? When the first zombie edged to the end of the docks and almost fell in before Porter could get the kill shot in, he realized that yeah, they could be a few places a hell of a lot safer than their island. He also realized he had to pay better attention.

Zombies were coming closer to the edge of the docks as the amount of food grew less and less. Some wandered toward town, but the majority of them were coming to the water. Just as he realized this, Porter also realized that the wind had changed. He was no longer smelling the zombies. They were smelling… Well, probably they were smelling Porter and the others in the chopper, probably the fish in the water, and maybe even the life from that little island. They were coming where they scented food, and Porter had to be more alert.

A zombie came to the edge of the pier and Porter fired. The zombie's head jerked back and it crumpled to the ground, finally dead. Porter wondered who that person had been. He kind of felt bad about shooting this people. Kind of, because he had shut down, or at least tried to shut down, the part of his brain that told him this was reality. He was doing his best to pretend that this was just a video game, and the zombie wasn't real. He wasn't hurting anyone. When that didn't work, he told himself that he was helping that person, because they were already dead and they deserved the chance to rest in peace. And when that didn't work was when he kind of felt bad.

Another zombie came to the end of the pier and Porter shot it in the head. Another came and another, following the sound. Bodies were soon stacking up on the edge, but there were more coming, and they were spreading out. He put his weapon on full automatic and sprayed the area. Some of his shots were good, luck putting bullets in zombie heads, but many of them just hit bodies, and those bodies didn't even go down. They just kept coming.

"Too many!" Porter shouted into his head set. "There are too many! There are more of them here than we thought!"

The pilot called back, "Hold your ground, Porter! I'm calling for back up!"

But, for the people on that island aross the way, back up was going to be too late. Porter didn't know that before he had taken up position over the water, other zombies had already made it into the water, and while many of them had gotten lost beneath the water, plenty of others, plus the ones that got around him now, were already headed to Spoon Island.

* * *

"Damn it!" Jason dropped down on his stomach and looked over the side of the cliff. Why hadn't he thought of this before? He had come outside to watch when they heard the helicopter flying overhead and he had stayed out there because it was better than being inside. In Wyndemere, his options were fighting with his parents, watching his grandmother grow weaker, or being interrogated about his relationship with Sam by Stefan. Watching the water was a better pastime.

Binoculars in hand, he stood out on the cliff and watched as best he could. The mainland was too far away for Jason to see everything, but he saw enough. He saw the helicopter stop and take up position close to the mainland. He saw what he could only guess were hoards of zombies all over the pier. He was thankful that he couldn't see them actually eating anyone, though he knew that was what was going on over there. He could only see the mass, and occasionally, he saw one of the mass drop.

As he watched, Jason hoped that they wouldn't find out later that one of those zombies were Sam or Lucky. He prayed that they weren't AJ or Jax. Both sets had left him behind to deal with the families, but Jason couldn't even do that. There was only so much that he could take, and not even going upstairs to play with the children helped the situation. It was hell being in Wyndemere, and outside had been his only escape.

Through his binoculars, Jason saw the zombies that had been taken out by the soldier in the helicopter. He didn't see the first one that went into the water, though. That was when Nikolas came out to check on him, to tell him that Emily was worried about him. Saying he was fine, Jason turned back, rose the binoculars, and that was when he saw tiny splashes in the water. And that was when he dropped to the ground, his mind racing.

"How long since this started did that helicopter show up?"

Confusion was in Nikolas's voice as he asked him, "What?" He paused, then said, "I don't know. I haven't been keeping track of time."

"Shit," Jason muttered, pulling himself farther over the edge. "Hold my feet." Nikolas didn't say anything, but Jason soon felt hands on his ankles. Jason edged over more, as far as he felt comfortable going, and looked down. "This isn't good," he said.

"What is it?"

"They've started going into the water," Jason said. "Pull me back."

Nikolas pulled him back and Jason stood up, brushing dirt off of his shirt and pants. "Their dead," Jason said. "Okay, so we weren't able to check for breathing when they reanimated, but they were definitely dead, and if their lungs don't come back when the brain picks the body up—"

Nikolas nodded, finally understanding. "They could already be making their way here."

"They could already **be** here," he said. Jason tried to think back to when the explosion first happened. They had no clear idea of how many people were there when the warehouse exploded, so no way to know if they had recovered all of the bodies. Corinthos had gone into the water. What if others had gone in the water? Those zombies might have already been on their way.

Jason turned around and dropped back to the ground. He edged over the cliff and without being asked, Nikolas grabbed his ankles. Jason went further this time, reassured by the tight grip that Nikolas had on his ankles. Jason watched, wondering how long they would be able to hold this position, how long would they be able to watch?

He didn't have to wait long. A zombie came out of the water, then another and another. Even with the distance between them, Jason could see that the water had done a number on the zombies. Pieces of flesh were missing, whether from the fish eating at them or just the water making the skin slough off, Jason wasn't sure. He figured a little bit of both, and then he had a moment of wondering if fish could turn into zombies. God, he hoped not.

Jason waved a hand and Nikolas pulled him back. Jason didn't even bother brushing off the dirt this time when he stood up. "They're coming," he said.

Nikolas narrowed his eyes, unsure. Jason didn't take much offense when Nikolas dropped to the ground to take his own look. Jason figured if he lived on an isolated island, the only place he thought would surely be safe, he would want to see for himself, too. Jason took Nikolas's ankles without question as the Cassadine prince eased over the side. He wasn't down there long before he had seen enough. Jason pulled him back.

"They're just running into the cliff wall," Nikolas said, "but there are ways to get to the water. There are paths all over the island that lead up to Wyndemere."

Jason looked around and he suddenly felt like an idiot. Not only had none of them considered that the zombies could have already started coming across the water, but they hadn't thought of the woods that surrounded Wyndemere. "We have to get inside," Jason said. "Now."

When he turned back to Nikolas, the prince was looking in the same places as Jason. "Sh," Nikolas said, "raising a hand."

Nikolas started walking back to the house, but closer to the edge of woods that lined the path. Jason listened, and he wondered why he hadn't heard it before. The moans weren't overpowering, but they were loud enough that Jason knew there had to be at least a dozen of them, probably more. How close had he been to being zombie food? Not that damn close, because Jason would have thrown himself over the cliff before he let one of those things get him.

Jason grabbed Nikolas's arm a second before he took off for the door. His hand jerked off of Nikolas's arm, but he knew that Nikolas was behind him. He could hear his heavy breathing mixing in with his own. As they came closer to the mansion, Jason looked to the side, and he could see them coming near the edge of the wood. What was even worse, Jason could tell that they had seen him and Nikolas, too.

Jason sprinted inside. Nikolas was only a second behind him. Nikolas slammed the door shut and locked it. Jason looked at the door. It was heavy, solid wood, and would probably hold them, but it wasn't the only door. How many doors did this place have, anyway?

"Master Nikolas?" Alfred shuffled forward, his face grave. "Master Nikolas, what is wrong?"

"They're here," Nikolas said. "Gather the servants. Check every entrance, make sure that nothing has gotten into the mansion. Go, Alfred, now."

The servant went as quickly as he could. It wasn't a run, but it was definitely faster than Jason thought the old butler could move. Jason turned to Nikolas and said, "We have to get everyone upstairs, as high as we can. Maybe we'll get lucky and they won't get in here, but if they do, we want the high ground."

Nikolas asked, "What about the catacombs? We could go the same way that AJ and Jax went."

Jason shook his head. "Too dangerous. For all we know, it's swarming with zombies down there by now. We could open the door and let them all in." Jason shook his head again. "The best thing to do is get everyone upstairs, now."

Nikolas nodded, and as he turned, Jason saw his little sister standing behind Nikolas. Emily walked up, her shaking hands covering her mouth. Her eyes were wide. Emily dropped her hands and before she could speak, Nikolas said, "Emily, we have to go upstairs."

"They're here," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "They're on the island."

Nikolas didn't answer her. Jason didn't want to answer, either. He wanted to keep Emily free of anything that could possibly hurt her. He didn't want her afraid, but there was no way to avoid telling her. There was no way to avoid telling anyone. They all had to know, and they would have to round everyone up.

Jason sighed and stepped up, standing shoulder to shoulder with Nikolas. Nodding, Jason said, "Yeah, Em, they're here."

"What do we do now?" She looked around the room, her wide eyes taking in what was supposed to be her sanctuary but could become her tomb. "We're supposed to be safe here!"

"We'll still be safe here," Jason told her. "We're getting everyone upstairs, and—"

"And? And what, Jason?"

"And," Nikolas said, "we wait. We have weapons left, and I have the same faith in your brother that you have. AJ and Jax will bring back help. We'll be safe." Nikolas walked to his young wife and wrapped his arms around her. He kissed the top of her head and said again, "We'll be safe. We just have to hold out."

Jason let out a shaky breath and made a mental note to thank Nikolas later. He didn't have an answer for Emily. For the first time, he was too afraid to calm her, or anyone else. And what was he afraid of? Not the zombies, not really. He was more afraid that he would let them all down, when he had been left behind to keep them safe. The zombies were merely the means by which he would let them all down.

"We'll be safe," Jason forced himself to say. As a zombie made it out of the woods and banged on the front door, though, as that zombie forced the three of them to run and search for everyone else, Jason wasn't so sure. But, if he believed it enough, right? Yeah… right.

70


	22. Chapter 22

Sam stared out the window. She wanted to go out there. She had pumped herself up, and when Jason mentioned Resident Evil, the idea of playing Alice had stuck somewhere in the back of her mind. The zombies were out there, and she really believed that more people were alive. Sitting inside, waiting for Mac to turn, was becoming boring as hell. Now, Sam wanted to play Alice. She wanted to go out there and kick some zombie ass.

Lucky walked up behind her as she pulled out one of her handguns and checked the clip. She knew it was him without looking, because Lucky was the only one that would come near her, the only one that would say anything to her at all. The rest of them knew… Whether they had overheard them talking or they could just tell from the way Sam looked at him, they knew that she wanted to put a bullet in Mac's head before he had the chance to eat someone. They knew it, and they didn't like her for it. Well, they could hate her all they wanted, but if Mac did turn and they did have to put him down, they'd be thanking her for being the only one that had the balls to do it. Felicia talked a good game, but Sam didn't think she'd actually be able to do it. She would probably just end up the first one that Mac started chomping on.

Sam ignored him as he stepped up beside her. Thankfully, the zombies hadn't realized that Kelly's was not surrounded by reinforced glass. They just weren't smart enough to realize that if they all surged forward, the glass would break in no time. Their lack of smarts meant that, for the time being, they were all safe inside the diner.

"You should get some sleep," Lucky told her. "I'll keep an eye out."

"Like you've slept," Sam said with a snort. No one was going to say it out loud, but everyone in there knew that as long as Sam was awake, Lucky wasn't going to go to sleep. He didn't trust that she wouldn't put Mac out of everyone's misery when he wasn't there to stop her. It sucked, considering that Sam wasn't going to do it since she'd been outvoted, but she understood it. She probably would have done the same thing if their situations were reversed.

"I slept a little," Lucky said with a shrug. If he did, Sam was pretty sure he'd slept very, very light.

It was dark outside. This had been the longest day in Sam's life. She felt like she'd been trapped inside of the diner for days instead of just hours. Staring at zombies was like watching paint dry. Boring as hell, and no matter how hard you stared, nothing changed. The zombies were still out there. Granted, there were fewer than there had been before, but not by a very sizable amount. No matter how quiet they stayed, even the zombies in the back knew that there were people inside, there was dinner waiting for them at the diner.

"Really, Sam, you should get some sleep."

She shook her head. Sam wasn't going to sleep. Her mind wandered enough when she was just staring out the window. She thought of the helicopters flying overhead and wondered if the sound of the rotors would be replaced by the sound of a plane if they decided to just bomb the city. She wondered if, somehow, the zombies had gotten to Spoon Island. If Sam went to sleep, her unconscious mind would just make it worse. She wouldn't just wonder. She was sure that, in her dreams, she would see the flash before the city went up in smoke, or she would see everyone that she loved getting up from the floor, covered in blood, their guts hanging out, coming to eat her.

Sam shuddered and closed her eyes. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, coming out to save people. It was Sam actually doing something instead of waiting to be saved. Now, though, she was in the same place she was before, except instead of waiting with friends and family, she was waiting with a group of people she barely knew, and one of them had a foot in the grave.

She was tired, though. The adrenaline had faded a while ago. That's why she stood at the window, watching, thinking about going back out there. If she sat for too long, she started to fall asleep. She wanted to curl up in bed and get a good night's rest. She wanted to burrow into Jason's side and—

Sam shook her head. Until today, she would have told anyone who asked that she and Jason weren't anything special. She liked him, and she had fun with him, but that was all there was to it. Now, though… She didn't know if she loved him, but she definitely cared more than she thought she did. Sam wanted the chance to see where this was going. She could tell in his eyes when she left him at Wyndemere that Jason cared about her, too. Could they really have something? She wasn't delusional. She didn't think they'd ever have what Nikolas and Emily had, or Lucky and Elizabeth, but there might be something there. She wanted them both to come out of this alive so she could find out what that something could be.

Sam looked at Lucky. He stared out the window, but he wasn't focusing. He seemed to be looking past the zombies, out into the rest of the town. He must have felt her looking at him, because he asked her, "Do you think they're okay?"

Sam took a deep breath and said, "I hope so."

"I mean, they're about as safe as they can be, ya know? I still worry, though. They have plenty of people, and I'm sure they've made sure that Cam, Spencer, and Kristina don't know what's going on, but still…" He turned to Sam and said, "We did the right thing, didn't we?"

Sam thought about it for a minute. They had come out to save people, but had they really done that? When they found the people at Kelly's, they were already barricaded inside and as safe as they could be. Mac was still wasting away in a corner. They still would have been waiting for them to die. Really, what had they done besides feed their own need for adventure?

Sam was about to tell him that they probably didn't. They should have stayed with their families, because at least they'd have been waiting together instead of left to think about what was going on. She didn't get the chance, though, because of the banging coming from the back, from the same spot where she and Lucky came in.

Both of their heads turned at the banging and they started moving when they heard the moans. "Dear God," Lucky whispered. His head whipped around and Sam's head followed a second later. They were trapped.

Sam looked around the diner. Everyone was getting up, moving in their direction, toward the door. They had zombies at their front and back, but at least the ones at their back weren't in the room with them. Sam checked her weapons and Lucky did the same. How many were coming out? Shit! Why were they just standing there?

Sam ran forward. If she could get them before they got too far out, they could use the bodies to block the entrance. But, then… She stopped short. Then, what?

"The roof," Bobbie said, looking up. She came up to them, standing beside her nephew. "If we go up to the apartments, there's roof access. We can go on the roof."

Sam gave her a quick nod and kept forward. The zombies were stuck inside the entrance from the catacombs. They rushed to get inside, but all they did was jam themselves up. Sam took aim and put bullets in their heads while Bobbie got everyone on their feet, started getting them upstairs. Lucky came up beside her, picking his shots. The plan worked for a few minutes, but the zombies just pulled the dead ones out of the way and kept on coming. They were going to get in anyway, and all they were doing was wasting ammunition.

Lucky grabbed Sam's arm and pulled her back out of the storeroom. As they came back into the main dining area, glass shattered. Zombies started pouring into the diner, and as they came in, Sam heard something else. She heard automatic gunfire outside. She heard explosions. "Fucking figures!" Sam yelled and Lucky looked at her. "We get mobbed by zombies and the cavalry finally shows up. How's that for bad timing?"

Sam shook her head, because really? They couldn't have shown up ten minutes ago? She shook it off and went for the stairs. She stopped when she caught a flash of blonde hair. Felicia was still there, and so was Mac. And Mac wasn't moving.

Sam looked at Lucky, then up the stairs. All of her survival instincts told her to say fuck it. She had warned Felicia. She couldn't do it, though. She couldn't just run upstairs and leave her down there for the zombies, and neither could Lucky. Mac still hadn't come back yet, but they couldn't have had too much time. If Elizabeth said that Sonny's turn was relatively quick…

Cursing, Sam ran for Felicia, Lucky on her heels. Sam grabbed Felicia's arm, but she jerked away. "No! He's not… He's just sleeping. He's…"

"He's dead!" Sam yelled at her. "He's dead, and he's going to be a zombie really soon, so we have to go."

Sam looked front and back. The zombies were getting in from the kitchen. They were slow going, but they were coming. In front, they were pouring into the broken windows. Luckily, they were shoving each other, and that slowed them down. Not many of them had actually made it into the building because they were too busy falling over each and scrambling. Sam took aim and shot at both sets of zombies, swinging back and forth. She left Felicia for Lucky to deal with.

Sam holstered the handgun and whipped around the automatic rifle on her back. She flipped it on full auto and sprayed first the ones behind them, then the ones in front. She wasn't looking to kill all of them, knew that with full auto she couldn't kill them all. She just wanted to slow them down. She could hear Lucky talking to Felicia, trying to get her to come with them, but she wouldn't go.

"Fuck this," Sam muttered. She pulled her handgun out and put the gun to Mac's head just as his eyes opened. She pulled the trigger just seconds after his teeth latched onto Felicia's arms. Felicia screamed, but Sam knew that scream wasn't for her own pain. When he bit her, she just gasped. When Sam shot him, when his jaw went slack and he fell away from her, then she screamed. She was probably going to hate Sam for the rest of her life. Oh well. She had bleeding teeth marks and flapping skin on her arm. The rest of her life wouldn't be long. It would have only been a few seconds if Lucky hadn't stopped her from turning the gun on Felicia.

"Lucky…"

"No!" He turned and the way to the stairs was still clear. Lucky grabbed Felicia and threw her toward the stairs. "Run!"

She wouldn't go. She just stood there, screaming and crying, drawing the zombies to her and she didn't even realize it. Sam started shooting the ones coming from the back, knocking them back before they could get to Felicia. Lucky took the ones coming in the windows. Sam heard his aimed shots, _pop pop pop_, as he took one head, then another.

This wasn't going to work. They were going to get blocked in, and they were dead. Sam reached behind her, grabbed Lucky, jerked him with her to the stairs. She had to shove Felicia out of the way, pushing her up the stairs. The zombies were still coming, though, and there were more of them, pouring in from every opening. But, the sounds of battle were also coming closer. The building shook as something outside exploded and Sam reached out to grab the banister, steadying herself. She had wished for action, had thought about going outside, but now that they were in the thick of it, she wanted that peace again.

The building shook again, but this time, the explosion didn't come from outside. It came from beneath them. Then, there was fire, and Sam realized there was something worse than being eaten by zombies. She had just sent everyone upstairs and now there was fire… They were going to burn alive!

But, the fire wasn't coming from the walls or the floor. It shot out from the back room in a thick, steady stream. The zombies still came at them, but now they were on fire. As she raised her gun, started to shoot the burning zombies, she heard more shots coming from the same direction as the blast of fire. The cavalry wasn't just on its way. The cavalry had arrived!

From the front, more gunshots came and as Lucky dropped the ones in front, someone else was dropping them from behind. As the ranks of zombies thinned, Sam saw uniforms. And when the zombies were all down, those men in uniform didn't start shooting the living. They lowered their weapons, even when one of them could clearly see that Felicia had been bitten. That was… wrong, on so many levels.

Sam turned back to the burning zombies and someone was putting the bodies out. Behind the extinguisher, Sam saw faces she definitely didn't think she'd see coming to her rescue. Jax came out, and AJ. AJ, of all people, had a flamethrower attached to his back, and he was laughing! He stepped up, looked at Sam and said, "How cool is this thing!"

Sam couldn't help it. She laughed. She laughed harder than she had in a while, even before the day's events. AJ stood there grinning, holding his weapon like it was his precious, and Sam couldn't do anything but laugh. Her laughter only stopped when someone moved past her and grabbed Felicia's arm. Her mind went to all those movies, and though she'd been ready to put a bullet in her head herself, someone else coming in and doing it just wasn't going to happen. She shoved him back and started to aim at him until Lucky stopped her.

"That's her ex-husband," Lucky told her. "That's Frisco Jones." He stopped as someone else came up behind Frisco and looked to the side, to Mac. Lucky sighed and said, "And that's Robert Scorpio. That's Robin's dad, and Mac's brother."

"We were too late," Robert said, his words somber. Sam had a random moment, thinking of something that had nothing to do with the situation. Robert's accent was strong. She never knew Mac was Australian.

Then someone else rushed in. Robin stopped short beside her father and Sam saw her visible force herself not to break down. She had done it enough times herself to know the signs. Robin's face crumpled, and a second later, she jerked herself up. She took in deep breaths. She shook herself. Later, Robin would probably lose it completely, but at the moment, she just put on her doctor face and said, "I almost had it." Her voice was soft and her words slow, steady, like she was keeping her voice from wavering. "I almost have it."

"How long?" This from Frisco. He had pulled Felicia from behind Sam and was holding her as she cried. "How soon, Robin?"

She blinked, and turned to him, tearing her eyes from her uncle. Robin saw Felicia's bleeding arm and stammered, "Another few tries? I'm almost there. We just… I can save her, as long as I get her before symptoms start."

"She was just bitten," Lucky told her. "Right before you guys came in here, Mac…" He stopped, shook his head. This wasn't the time to get into who bit her. "It's fresh, and it takes… It takes a while to turn, just from a bite." He fought to turn toward Mac, but everyone knew that his knowledge came from him. They had sat there and watched him turn.

"Then, we have time," Robin said with a nod.

Sam was confused. How did they get there? How did they even know that anyone was inside, and alive? And, if Robin and her near-cure was with them, did that mean that they weren't just shooting infected people on site? Could they really have just been quarantining them until they had no choice but to put them down? She also had questions for Jax and AJ. Where was everyone else? Why weren't they on Spoon Island?

Sam was about to start asking her questions when the satellite phone on Robert's belt rang. He picked up the phone, and everyone was quiet. The only sounds were the fighting outside and Robert's lowered voice. When he ended the call, he turned back to them. The news wasn't good, and the news was for certain people. He took his time looking at Sam, then Lucky, Jax, then AJ.

Robert said, "A good portion of the city has been cleared, but we now have another problem." He paused, waited while they let the good news soak in, but Sam was prepared for the bad. The look on his face said that there had to be bad news, and the way he looked at them…

"No," Sam said, shaking her head.

"I'm sorry."

"No," she said again. "They were safe there. We only left them because they were safe there."

Robert sighed and said, "I'm sorry. Spoon Island has been overrun."

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	23. Chapter 23

"I say we go in there with AJ's flamethrower, and we just wipe them out."

"I like Sam's idea."

"AJ, your flamethrower isn't enough for what's swarming that island."

AJ and Sam looked at each other and grumbled, then turned their frustrated eyes to Jax. He was making sense, and they didn't want sense to interfere with their amazing plans. AJ said, "We'll get more flamethrowers. We take in a big team, half with flamethrowers, and the others shoot them down while they're burning."

"I like AJ's plan."

Jax groaned and massaged his temples. He knew their frustration. He felt it the same as they did. His wife and daughter were on that island, and no one knew if any of the zombies had actually gotten inside of Wyndemere yet. He looked to Lucky for help, but he had the same look as the others. He wasn't joining in on the flamethrower chorus, but it was in his eyes; Lucky wanted to go in and save his family.

"We have to do something," Sam said as she paced. The police station had been cleared and they were using it as a staging area. Half of the main station room was being used as a triage area. Military leaders had set up shop in what used to be Mac's office to make their plans. Jax, Sam, AJ, Lucky, and Robert weren't in the office, though. They had made their own conference room out of the interrogation room. They had all agreed, the people out there didn't have the same priorities as they had. They didn't have family on that island.

"Here's the problem," Robert said. He was on his own now. Frisco had taken Felicia and gone back to the hospital, another area that had been cleared. Maxie and Georgie were waiting for them there, and no one thought less of him for going with his family.

Robert pointed to the door. "Out there? They want to just bomb the island and be done with it."

"The hell they'll bomb the island!" Sam stopped her pacing and stared at him. "Do you understand how long I went without my family? I'm not letting them blow them up just because they don't want to be creative about the strategy."

Sam started walking toward Robert and Jax stepped in front of her before she could punch the messenger in the face. "It's not his decision, Sam."

"And it's not theirs, either!" Sam yelled at him. "They don't get to just come in here and destroy our lives. They're supposed to be here to save us!"

"The only reason they haven't done it yet," Robert said, "is because they can't get an OK from the president. He's not about to let them bomb any part of the country until they've tried everything they possibly can. So, right now, they're coming up with half-assed things they can try, so they can say they gave it their all. If they try, or at least look like they're trying, they're sure the president will come round to their idea and let them drop a couple of missiles."

"So, we have to come up with something before they convince him," AJ said.

They all went quiet. Jax thought himself to be a good strategist, but his judgment was clouded. He couldn't trust the ideas for rescue that came into his head. Whether the plans were sound or not, he second-guessed himself, wondering if the idea was really plausible, or just something ludicrous because he wanted to get in there.

Stefan was going to hold this against him. Jax knew the thought was completely inappropriate. Stefan's disapproval of him was not important at the moment, but it's what popped into his head. Stefan was always trying to discredit him with Alexis, and he would use Jax's inaction at this point, should he find out, to show Alexis that she deserved better. Jax could only hope that, when this was all said and done, she kept this part of their zombie adventure a secret from her uncle. And Jax did believe that it would be over, and they would get out of it alive. He couldn't allow himself to think anything else. They would come up with a plan. They had to come up with a plan. Jax was just having trouble finding that plan.

"How many soldiers do you think we can get to help us?" Lucky spoke up for the first time since they went into the interrogation room and all eyes turned to him. "For this flamethrower thing," Lucky said. "How many of the soldiers do you think we can get on our side?"

AJ liked the idea of his flamethrower too much. He grinned at someone else liking this idea. Jax didn't like the grin on his face. "I don't think the flamethrowers will work."

"They might," Lucky said. "You've gone skydiving, haven't you, Jax?"

Jax rubbed his temple so hard the skin started to ache. "You can't possibly think I'm going to jump into Wyndemere."

Lucky ticked them off on his fingers. "You, Robert, Sam… You've jumped from planes before."

Sam rose her hand, cleared her throat. "Sorry, I don't jump out of planes. Scale a building? No problem. Skydiving? Not really my thing."

"Fine," Lucky said, "you can go in with a flamethrower."

"Your plan hinges on getting those soldiers to go against orders," Robert put in. "We would probably find some willing, but there would be others trying to stop them. I don't know the details of your plan, but this kind of operation… We need cooperation."

Lucky scratched his head and grunted in frustration. "Fine. Then we talk them into it. They're not coming up with ideas, but we have one. I have an idea that just might get everybody still alive in Wyndemere out in one piece. We can't just let them bomb the place without really trying."

Jax listened to them arguing it out, Robert pointing out flaws as Lucky, Sam, and AJ tried to convince them that they had no choice but to try. On the surface, without more details, Lucky's plan did sound outrageous. Jumping out of a plane onto Spoon Island when it was covered in zombies? Lucky had been quiet a long time, though, and Jax thought there had to be more to it than that. He had to have been thinking about the options.

Jax stepped between them, put his arms out. "Stop it!" Jax shouted. The voices stopped almost at once. Jax looked at Lucky and said, "I take it that there's more to your plan than just skydiving and flamethrowers."

"If he," Lucky pointed at Robert, "would let me finish, yes, there's more to it than just skydiving and flamethrowers. In fact, we're going to need some kind of higher authority for communication. The flamethrowers are just a diversion, anyway, and if we can get even higher authority, we wouldn't even need to jump in."

"You're thinking of having the phones turned back on," Jax said, the plot points starting to come together in his head. "So we can get a call inside."

Lucky nodded. "When I first said it, I was just trying to get us in there. But, as I thought about it, standing here arguing the point, it's getting clearer. If we can call them, we can get everyone to the roof. There's a landing pad on the south side of Wyndemere. We can land a transport helicopter and get them all out."

Sam said, "So, let's say we do this." Sam ran her hands through her hair, stopping to scratch at the crown, before letting her hand fall out. She dropped a hand on the table in the center of the room. "Let's talk it out. If we're going to take them a plan, we have to take them a full plan, right?"

"Sam and I go in with the troops, flamethrower blazing," AJ said. Jax shook his head. He knew it was a bad idea putting that kind of fire power in AJ's hand. He was never going to hear the end of AJ's adventures with the flamethrower after this, especially if they really went with Lucky's plan. "But, if Wyndemere has this landing pad, then we don't need anyone to jump in."

"Edward and Stefan are both going to want faces they know," Jax said. "Stefan doesn't trust me married to his sister, but he'll trust me coming in for the rescue. So, if the two of you are on the ground, Lucky, Robert, and I can go on the helicopter."

"We need the phones on," Lucky said. "Or at least on enough that we can get a call to Jason or Nikolas. We need to know who's still alive, and we need to know if they can get to the helipad."

"We might still have to go in," Jax said. He looked at Robert and received a nod. "If they can't get there, if they're blocked in, we'll have to get them out. We have more fire power."

"That still leaves us the problem," Robert said, "of that if you are coming at them from the shore with fire, you're essentially driving them back to the mansion."

They all went silent at that. He was right. While they were trying to get the people out of Wyndemere, the zombies would be running away from the fire. They would push them to Wyndemere, and they would end up with a bigger fight than they can handle.

"Then, we reverse it," Lucky said. "We put Sam and AJ with me on the helicopter, and we have you and Robert jump in to help with the flamethrowers."

That… might work, Jax had to admit. He could see that AJ didn't like it. He was looking forward to going in with fire blazing. Jax wasn't particularly thrilled with jumping into a hoard of zombies, but there was a part of him that liked the adventure of it. Before the zombie attack, when was the last time he'd had a real adventure? Jax had spent years behind a desk, getting his thrills through corporate raiding, but he remembered the days with his father, finding an adventure and going in wild. Jax wasn't an adrenaline junkie, but he had a bit of thrill seeker in him.

"We bring some troops in from the water," Lucky said, "and when they've started pulling them in their direction, we jump a group in near the building to push them forward. We get one of the little gunships to go in and have someone from the air picking them off. While the fighting's going on, Sam, AJ and I take a team in and get them out."

"You're talking about a full scale assault on Spoon Island," Robert said. He sat down on the edge of the table. He looked down, obviously gone in thought. His head still down, he said, "This isn't a plan that we can pull off on our own. If it were just us talking a few soldiers into insubordination… There are some out there that would go along with it. They don't like that we're doing nothing for the people on that island, and if we pulled it out, they would probably get off light. They might get knocked down in rank, but I don't see any of them serving time if this went wrong."

Robert rose his head and said, "But, we're not talking about a quick sneak and grab. This is a full scale assault," he reiterated. "We need the full backing of the military to pull this off."

"Maybe the idea sounds just crazy enough that they'll go for it," AJ said. "They don't want to do it anyway, right? But, they have to try. If we give them a plan that they know won't work…"

"They'll just veto it as not working," Robert said with a sigh. "They'll say the risk is too great."

"Then, we need the president." All eyes turned to Jax as he took the satellite phone from the strap that secured it to his back.

Jax started to dial and AJ said, "Really? You've got the president of the United States on speed dial?"

Jax laughed. He had to admit, he got a bit of a thrill out of surprising AJ with things like this. Most of the people around him had worked for him long enough to expect Jax to pull any color rabbit out of his habit. With AJ, the ability to impress was still there.

"Let's just say that I've done a lot of people a lot of favors over the years." The line picked up and he said, "Jasper Jacks, here. I need a direct connection, please." All eyes in the room were on him as he waited, and their eyes all went wide as Jax said, "Mr. President, it's good to talk to you. I'm here in Port Charles, and we have an idea that just might save Spoon Island and all of the registered voters who are now trapped there."

78


	24. Chapter 24

"This is a very bad idea, now that I've thought about it." Jax shouted over the noise. Jax was in one of two transport birds that were waiting just in-sight of Wyndemere. Thank God, they didn't have to jump. Jax had the skills, but that didn't mean that he'd thrown his body out of anything with only a parachute to keep him alive for quite some time. Instead, they were going to rope in, and the second they were on the ground, the ropes would be dropped, just in case zombies had learned how to climb. That meant, when they were on the ground, there was nowhere for them to go but into Wyndemere and up.

"I've thought it was a bad idea since Spencer brought it up." Robert held tightly to his weapon. He turned his head, from looking out the open door to looking at Jax. He winked and shouted over the noise, "You never trust a plan that was conceived by a Spencer."

He had a point. Had he known Luke Spencer to ever have a good idea? They were interesting, to be sure, and his capers were fun, but were the ideas sound? No, not normally. Jax wanted to believe better of Lucky, though. He was a police officer. He had mostly shunned his father's craziness. Lucky was more like his mother, but he did still have Spencer blood, and that blood had come to the forefront with this particularly daft plan.

The flamethrower's pack was somewhat heavy, but the nozzle he clutched in his hands was light. AJ was enamored of the thing. Jax expected him to find his own, if for nothing other than a trophy. Jax hadn't felt the power of it, yet, though, and he couldn't be sure. It was such a light weight in his hands, and it was an unfamiliar weapon. That only served to increase his nervousness.

Jax looked to the ground. The zombies were swarming and as some moved forward and out of view, he knew that they had at least gotten in through the windows. They were inside the mansion, which meant even more trouble for the others waiting to go inside. The zombies could already be upstairs. Everyone could be dead already.

No. Jax shook his head. He wasn't going to let his mind go there. That was his family inside those walls. His wife, his daughter, the extended family… Even Stefan. The man was a pain in the ass, and he and Jax would never see eye to eye, but that didn't mean that Jax wanted to see his brother-in-law dead or turned into a zombie. He had to tell himself they were alive. They had to be alive.

"Get ready!" The call was muffled by the beating of the rotors. Jax looked out over the land before him. He couldn't see the soldiers, but he saw the zombies pushing back toward the mansion. The others must have landed already.

How did he end up hovering over Spoon Island? Originally, he and Robert were going to be going in with the ground team, heading in from the water. The conversations were quick and the decisions made even quicker. All Jax knew was that, after a few times back and forth, he had ended up on a helicopter, hovering over Wyndemere, waiting to go down a rope and drop into a nest of zombies.

Jax took a deep breath and prepared himself. He could do this. He had volunteered to do this. Okay, so he had been talked into it, but Jax knew that, if it hadn't already been assumed he would go in, that he would have gone in, anyway. It was good that they were there. The faces of the soldiers said they were afraid, that they didn't want to go into that zombie nest. Jax didn't know how many of them would have stepped forward for this mission if they hadn't seen civilians stepping forward, if it weren't civilians that came up with this crazy idea, anyway.

And, yes, it had been voluntary. Jax's influence with the president only went so far. The military men in charge said that the idea was too risky, that it would only get American military personnel killed. All the president could do was okay it on a volunteer basis. The military would readily supply the needed equipment and transportation, as long as there were enough soldiers willing to go in with them. Those soldiers watched these untrained people step forward and they couldn't stay behind. They said they would go, and now…

"Go! Go! Go!"

Jax had missed the ropes being thrown out, but now, he didn't miss the hard pat on his back. He looked beside him to Robert. A curt nod was all he needed. Both of them reached out for the rope and slid down.

* * *

There were less of them, now, but the children were still okay. That's how Jason rationalized losing his grandparents to the zombies. He lost two of them, but the kids were okay. And the zombies hadn't actually gotten Grandmother. Her heart just couldn't hold on. After that… Grandfather… And then the bites…

They said it was okay. As long as they were still alive, and the bites were recent, they should be able to help them. Stefan tried to be noble, told Alexis that he would only slow her down, but she wasn't going to leave her brother behind, and Nikolas wasn't leaving his uncle, especially since he got the bite saving Emily from her own grandfather's teeth.

Kristina's arms were tight around Jason's neck, so tight that he could barely breathe. Emily held Spencer, her little boy with a death grip around her neck like Kristina's on Jason. Elizabeth held Cameron by the hand. She had tried to carry him, but found that when running, he was faster on his little feet. Alexis held up Stefan. Tracy was bitten, and Monica helped her down the hall, the two bickering as though it was just another day. And surprisingly, it was Alan who stood with Nikolas, gun in hand, defending them as the moved down the hall.

Jason had never thought of his father as a protector. Sure, he was an excellent job, and if their family actually needed to be provided for, Alan would have been a good provider. He just hadn't really protected them against much. Sure, they had lawyers he called whenever AJ got into trouble, but that wasn't doing much himself. When Edward started in on anyone, Alan put forth minimal effort. His father had hardly ever protected them figuratively, so it was hard for him to see him doing it literally with a gun in his hands.

Jason was at the back, a gun in his hand, covering the rear, but it was hard with Kristina holding on. It was hard for all of them holding the kids to concentrate. They had done well until the zombies got into the house. It was easy for them to cover up why the entire family was at Wyndemere. But, when Edward turned… When he bitten Stefan… Spencer had gone still since then, his head buried in his mother's shoulder. Cameron screamed until Elizabeth put her hand over his mouth. And Kristina… She just cried and asked for her dad and her sister. Jason told her that Sam was coming, but she still cried, and her shaking and the tears wetting his shirt was distracting.

"Nikolas." The hall was quiet enough that Jason didn't have to raise his voice, but there was sound. Yes, there was definitely sound. Moans and groans mixed with shrieking cries coming from the hallway. The zombies had found the stairs and they had stumbled through Wyndemere's mazes until they found where the people were hiding.

"I know," he said. "I can hear them."

"We have to move faster," but even as Jason said it, he knew it wasn't possible, not with the sick and injured. And if they ran, they could head into anything. At least going slow, they would have time to hear if something was ahead of them.

They were heading into silence, but they were leaving a growing cacophany of sound. More moans and groans were heard, and they were louder. The sound grew faster. "Nikolas…"

"Switch with me," Nikolas said.

Jason moved to the front. Nikolas went to the back. That was good. In front, he'd have Alan to back him up. How odd was that, anyway? His father actually acting as back up? In the back, though, Jason was alone, and one arm with a child clinging to him wasn't going to help his aim.

They moved forward, Nikolas calling out directions from the rear of the group. This was his home, and he knew every inch of it. He knew the route they were taking, and they wouldn't get lost. Left here, up those stairs. Right, another left, then all the way down the hall, and when they reached that final hallway, Jason could see the stairs that led to the roof. They were a set of stairs that looked like it led to nowhere, but was really a stairway to heaven.

How had they gotten this lucky? It was clear all the way to the stairs. But, it wasn't clear behind them. Jason took off running when the stairs were in sight, and a second after his first step forward, a gunshot came from behind. Another gun shot, and then another, and then Nikolas shouted, "Run!"

Jason put Kristina on the floor. She was still crying, but Nikolas needed help. "Go," he told her. "Sam's waiting for you. Go!"

Kristina turned and ran. Elizabeth lagged behind, grabbed her hand and pulled the little girl along with her until they were at the stairs. Jason looked at them until Alexis had climbed the short staircase and shoved the hatch open. Ahead of him, the families were going up the stairs and behind him, Nikolas was still firing.

Jason turned and bumped his father's arm as he turned. He was surprised to see him there. "Go," Jason told him, but Alan only shook his head and stepped up beside Nikolas. Jason stepped to the other side and watched the hoard stumbling toward them.

Jason didn't recognize any of these zombies, not because they were necessarily people that he didn't know, but because their bodies had been so ravaged by the travel across the harbor that there wasn't much left for identification. They stumbled over fallen bodies. They slipped on pieces of flesh that had sloughed off and fallen to the floor.

The trio took aim, moved back slowly, and continued to fire. They probably should have turned and run, but… You can't cover your back when you're running. The zombies were coming faster, and there were more of them, pushing those in front of them. They continued to shoot, and as the zombies came closer, Jason was just glad that the others had made it to the roof. He had done his job. He had gotten Sam's family out alive. Most of it, at least. And, if Nikolas did go down, well… At least Jason would have gone down beside him.

* * *

"They're taking too long, Lucky!" Sam had to shout to be heard over the rotors of the rescue chopper. She looked down at her watch, then back to the trap door. "Too long!"

He shook his head. "A few more minutes!"

A few more minutes… Sam wanted to run, throw that hatch open, and run down those stairs. The soldiers were watching her, though. Part of the agreement in taking on this mission was that they wouldn't go inside unless they were called. They had no way of knowing where in the mansion the group were, other than that they were on their way to the roof, and it wouldn't do any good to have a team lost inside of Wyndemere's winding hallways with zombies all over the place. Unless they had a way of knowing exactly where they were, no one was allowed inside the building.

"I'm going in there!" AJ shouted. "I've still got my flamethrower!"

"Just wait!" Lucky yelled. "One more minute!"

Sam hated waiting. It gave her time to think of the worse. What if they had lost more trying to get to the roof? When that hatch opened, would her mother be there? Her sister? Would anyone even be left alive to come out? She thought of her family dragging their torn, zombified bodies through Wyndemere. She thought of Jason with his insides ripped out, a zombie using him for dinner. No, waiting wasn't good because it brought thoughts that were even worse.

"Fuck this," Sam muttered as she stalked forward. _Let them shoot me in the back_, she thought. _Let them shoot me in the back if they want to stop me. _She drew a pistol as she marched forward. The hatch flew open and Sam jumped back. She bumped into someone, and a second later, Lucky was standing beside her, gun pointed. AJ was on the other side, flamethrower at the ready.

Cameron was lifted up, his arms waving. Lucky holstered his gun and ran forward. He pulled his son out of the hole and held him, hugged him so tight that the little boy cried. Sam stood back, watching as Spencer was lifted out, and AJ was suddenly there, pulling his nephew out of the hole. Sam was frozen. She had expected zombies to jump out, but children… She wasn't shaken from her shocked state until Kristina was lifted out, set down and came running to her.

Sam ran to her, and Kristina leaped. Sam caught her, hugged her, cried into her hair. Sam opened her eyes to look at the hole and watched as more were lifted out. The injured came first. Tracy came up and her leg was bleeding. Stefan came up and his arm was dripping blood. Alexis came up. Monica came up. Emily came up.

And then, that was it. Sam put Kristina down, a feat in and of itself as Kristina held onto her so tightly. She pried herself from the girl's arms and ran to the first person she saw. She grabbed her mother by the arms. "Where's Jason? Where's Nikolas?"

Alexis looked back toward the hole and Sam's stomach dropped. They were… down there? They were dead? Because, why else wouldn't they be up there with the rest of them unless they were dead?

Soldiers were around them, now, rushing everyone to the waiting helicopter. There was chaos as the children cried, the adults screamed. Elizabeth held on to Lucky. He had picked up his son again and the three of them were united, but Lucky looked over Elizabeth's shoulder to the hole. He was waiting for his brother to come out. Emily stood clutching Spencer, watching the hole even as soldiers tried to drag them off, waiting for more to come out of the hole.

"They're not—" Sam shook her head. "No! They're not!"

"They stayed…" Alexis swallowed. "They told us to run. Nikolas, Jason and Alan…" She looked over her shoulder. "They're still down there."

"No!" Sam shoved her mother to the side and ran for the hole. She called out, "Lucky! They're still down there!"

She barely saw Lucky pass Cameron to his mother. She gave him just the quickest glance to make sure he was following her. They both pushed their way past soldiers, running as fast as they could. Being small in stature helped both of them. The soldiers were loaded down with gear, and Sam and Lucky were able to duck below them, weave around them, everything necessary to keep from being stopped. Surprisingly, AJ was already there, waiting for them, flamethrower pointed down the hole, when Lucky and Sam got there.

Sam flew down the stairs. "Jason!" Sam called. "Nikolas!"

She saw them, three men standing side by side, walking backwards with weapons in front of them. Lucky bumped her and she stumbled forward, almost fell down the steps. It was a sight she hadn't expected to see. The doctor, the prince and the pacifist, standing side by side, shooting down zombies. One by one, though, their guns clicked empty. First Nikolas, then Jason, and finally Alan - all empty. They stood, staring at the zombies in front of them.

"Why aren't they running?"

"They don't know what's behind them."

They were speaking softly, and Sam didn't know about Lucky but she thought her voice was low so as not to raise more zombie attention. Would they rush if they realized there was more food waiting ahead of them? She had to guess that neither Jason nor Nikolas heard her shout their names because they were shooting, but now it was quiet except for the zombies.

Sam leaned over the railing and shouted, "Run!"

All three turned, hesitated, and the zombies kept moving. The stillness of the trio made the zombies look like they were the ones that had started running. One came close to Nikolas and Sam aimed, shot; the zombie's head jerked back and it hit the floor. AJ raised his flamethrower and spit flames over their heads. That shook them all out of their moment. Jason, Nikolas, and Alan turned and sprinted for the stairs. Sam, AJ, and Lucky went back up and seconds later, the last of the Wyndemere survivors were behind them. They cleared the opening and Nikolas threw the hatch down, locked the door, and when he stood, there was a finger in his face.

"Don't you ever do that again!" Sam turned her finger to Jason. "When I tell you to get your ass gone, you do not stay behind and be a hero!" Sam grabbed both of the, throwing an arm around each man. Nikolas was pulled away, Sam assumed by Emily and Spencer, and then it was only her arms around Jason.

She held onto him and she knew she was crying. She also knew that she should care. She was a tough as nails private eye. She was a Cassadine. She did not let others see her cry, especially while she was holding on to someone for dear life. She didn't care, though, and that was strange enough to make her pull back from Jason. She looked up at him and his eyes were wet, too, as he looked down at her.

"Don't you ever do that again," she said again.

"I only did what you asked."

"And what did I ask?'

"I got your family out alive. My own…" Jason turned halfway, looked at the hatch. But, no matter how long he stared at it, his grandparents weren't going to come out of that hole. He had saved Sam's family, but his own…

"Jason." Two voices spoke at once. Jason's eyes touched Sam's for a moment, then moved up to look at his father, over Sam's shoulder. "Jason," Alan said, "you did your best."

"I didn't do enough."

"You did what you could."

Father and son stared at one another and Sam felt uncomfortable. She also felt a little annoyed. Alan had enough time later to bond or whatever the hell he wanted to do. Right now, it was her turn, and he needed to back off. Sam looked over her shoulder to Alan. "You should go and tell that to AJ. If he's ever deserved your respect, it's today."

"AJ…"

"Is your son, and right now? He should probably hear something good from his father."

Sam turned her back on Alan. She didn't think he would say anything to her, not when she had put that extra bit of shame in her voice. He deserved to have that shame, too. AJ had saved their asses time and again. He had gotten them out of their mansion, taken them to Wyndemere, then went out and faced a zombie hoard to get them rescue. Yeah, Alan Quartermaine had another son that he needed to give some attention, and Sam wasn't going to let him forget it.

She felt Alan walking away, felt his presence leave her. She heard people shouting for her and Jason to come on, and she knew she only had a minute or two before they would be back in the middle of everyone else. They just had a minute or two alone.

"My grandmother," Jason said. "My grandfather."

"I know, Jason," Sam said. "I'm sorry."

"But, we saved the others." Jason looked into Sam's eyes as his hand rose. He cupped her cheek and said, "I was so afraid you were gone, that I'd never see you again."

Sam closed her eyes for a second. She turned her face into Jason's palm, kissed it, then opened her eyes and looked at him. "I think you're going to be seeing me for a while."

"Hey!" AJ's voice intruded on the moment. "Let's get the hell out of here!"

Jason's laugh was nervous and a little embarrassed. "I think it's time to get out of here."

"Yeah," Sam said. She grabbed Jason's hand and repeated, "Yeah." Then, they ran for the helicopter.


	25. Chapter 25

**From Robert Scorpio's report on the "Incident in Port Charles, NY" for the World Security Bureau**

_[…] All told, three quarters of the citizens of Port Charles lost their lives in the Port Charles Zombie Apocalypse. Surprisingly, they weren't all from the zombies. There were a number of self-inflicted gunshot wounds, and a number of people were found to have died of strokes and heart attacks. The latter appear to have been overcome by despair. We assume that the bodies were not infected because they were already dead and there was no blood pumping that could circulate the virus through their system._

_The quarantine on Port Charles has been extended another week. The official White House statement is that the CDC wants to make sure that the citizenry has all been cleared of infection. However, it is more likely that they are still working to contain the story. Some videos have leaked to the internet, but the government has convinced most people that they are hoaxes. The US government has been secretive about the means by which they are quieting the citizens, but it seems to be working, for the most part. There are still a few hold outs, however, that explain the extension._

_[…]_

_Jasper Jacks proved to be an excellent ally and it appears that our alliance with the Jacks family is strong. Mr. Jacks' personal assistant, Alan Quartermaine, Jr., also showed himself to be someone of interest for the WSB. My suggestion is that it would be in our best interest to develop a working relationship with him. Quartermaine might come in handy in some future venture, especially with his family connections and his close ties to Jacks._

_Samantha McCall may, also, be a strong ally and possible contact in the future. While I believe that McCall would reject an offer of full-time employment with the WSB, she may be interested in working with us on a contract basis. As a member of the Cassadine family, she has access to a wealth of information. Her current status as a private investigator has given her extensive experience in undercover work, and since she has done all of her work within the borders of the United States and Canada, she would be of great undercover use overseas, where she is not well known. _

_Another asset could be Lucas Spencer, Jr. Spencer's parents were both valuable WSB assets in their day, and while Spencer has not followed in his father's footsteps as an adept confidence man, he has shown that he has the same thrill seeking attitude and calm temperament as his father. Through his father and his brother, Nikolas Cassadine, he has much potential information at his fingertips. As the senior Spencer is still one of our valuable contacts, I believe that his son would be open to helping us. We should definitely keep the young Spencer in mind for future temporary assignment._

_[…]_

_Infection is caused by direct insertion of the contamination into the blood stream. Bites were the main cause of infection in most of the infected of Port Charles. The first infected were those within the warehouse when it exploded, the explosion sending the powdered infection directly into their noses, mouths, and wounds. There were reports of infection from scratches, however, those appear to be the result of the victim being scratched by an infected individual with their own or other infected blood beneath their fingernails._

_Dr. Robin Scorpio has created a suitable antidote to the virus that infected the people of Port Charles, though it does have its limitations. The antidote has to be given to the infected person within eight to ten hours of infection. Past the eight hour mark, chances of recovery drop to seventy percent. Past the nine hour mark, chances of recovery drop to 30%. Past ten hours, there is no chance of recovery. Too much of the brain has been destroyed, and there is nothing left to save. Infected persons given the antidote within the first three hours of contamination have recovered fully. After the third hour, the infection moves to the brain and deterioration begins. _

_Preferred administration of the antidote is within the first four hours of infection. After the first four hours, chances of a full recovery slowly begin to diminish, and diminishes rapidly after the eight hour. The later the antidote is administered, the more brain function is reduced. In a small number of patients who were administered the antidote after the eight hour, strokes and heart attacks killed the patient, who then had to be put down to prevent another spreading of the virus._

_Symptoms of the antidote in those treated within in the preferred time were minimal. The most common were headaches, irritable bowels, and temporary loss of hearing or vision. Medical officials from the American Centers for Disease Control, working in concert with Dr. Scorpio, have concluded that these are acceptable side effects. The antidote was given a rush clearance from the American Federal Drug Administration and was put into use the moment it was completed._

_[…]_

_Agents in the field are still tracking down the origin of the virus. I was able to acquire a number of Corinthos's papers from his home and office before US federal agents raided both places. I have passed on any leads that were found, and I am certain that agents will find the origination of the virus and put a stop to its production as a weapon of mass destruction._

_[…]_

_We have in our possession Dr. Scorpio's research, and access to Dr. Scorpio herself. However, her testing has degraded her samples of the original virus, making them useless to us a means of our own reasearch. _

_[…]_

_The United States government, as well as other international agents that were spotted in the vicinity, were unable to acquire a viable specimen for study and later reproduction of the virus. It appears that someone or multiple someones destroyed all of the usable samples. _

_Despite my best efforts, I was unable to acquire a viable specimen of the virus for our own study. _

**The End**


End file.
